tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-87149417825151285582024-03-25T15:47:40.468-07:00The Sociologist's Dojo: Self Defense for the Absurdity of our Social WorldThis blog focuses on the social analysis of film and popular culture by using the sociological perspective. Brian Brutlaghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08099644007940320266noreply@blogger.comBlogger128125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8714941782515128558.post-9950783393035499022024-03-15T19:10:00.000-07:002024-03-15T19:10:57.908-07:00The Films of Ana Lily Amirpour: The Bad Batch <p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDvLoTAnkI1oQOw0BYD_dFRYIoIuxObvk-wi5gGwPmsSlOAizq1YV66jZnxrPn1ro9r0CbVOebOF_ihk8IKWK70sNjvAgUzNP7FqXOp-s70BeZESgIzaJhOhIPPoh7odWd4sPe64z2SY6DhnYR4wk8KJ-eBfeWW-zabJgBytTKPToo-9tgDqX5kTzM-YIa/s300/nausicaa-578x801.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="168" data-original-width="300" height="224" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDvLoTAnkI1oQOw0BYD_dFRYIoIuxObvk-wi5gGwPmsSlOAizq1YV66jZnxrPn1ro9r0CbVOebOF_ihk8IKWK70sNjvAgUzNP7FqXOp-s70BeZESgIzaJhOhIPPoh7odWd4sPe64z2SY6DhnYR4wk8KJ-eBfeWW-zabJgBytTKPToo-9tgDqX5kTzM-YIa/w400-h224/nausicaa-578x801.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><p style="text-align: center;"><br /></p><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The second
film in my analysis of </span><a href="https://thesociologistsdojo.blogspot.com/search/label/The%20Films%20of%20Ana%20lily%20Amirpour"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">the
films of Ana lily Amirpour</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">, is the desert denizen dystopia, <i>The
Bad Batch</i>; the next film in what I have dubbed Amirpour’s “Apocalyptic
Anomie” trilogy. For this sophomore outing, Amirpour trades Tehran for Texas,
and vampires for cannibals in this amalgamated homage to the work of George
Miller and John Carpenter. Through Amirpour’s deft hand and critical eye, she
weaves a story of brutal survival in a wasteland manufactured by a draconian criminal
justice system, while intimating at our own problematic interconnected web of immigration,
militarization, and poverty in the United States. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/74pryYIazm0" width="320" youtube-src-id="74pryYIazm0"></iframe></div><br /><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">PLOT<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">When a young woman is
extradited from the United States for unknown crimes into a lawless wasteland
located in what was once the Texas desert, she is happened upon by a community
of cannibals. Escaping their clutches after giving a literal arm and a leg, Arlen
(Suki Waterhouse) is rescued by a hermit (Jim Carrey) and taken to a compound
called Comfort; ruled over by the enigmatic “Dream” (Keanu Reeves).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Once recuperated, Arlen goes looking for
revenge which sets in motion a series of events that causes her to question Comfort’s
illusion of security, the horrors of scavenging poverty, and what it truly
means to be one of “The Bad Batch”.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjy6cEC6YYrANWJjZLFnTQU-AB6tXf2LT0GuO_oUr2zPgsvK5X8T2zmy2fG8zvGhoUB8CDeYumFkmKzeEPiTxlVh4-xjZYgbI6COdx2H_5THxcLmtIriyuVD32NvE6-0GAte8ChkhxPexhRMaWJ2QB6j7j-rPKpmJ-bP1YmHiiqvFx1HMsqQdR7s0Qz21RU/s1366/what-is-criminal-justice-974588-v31-5c115210c9e77c00013ae766.webp" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="565" data-original-width="1366" height="165" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjy6cEC6YYrANWJjZLFnTQU-AB6tXf2LT0GuO_oUr2zPgsvK5X8T2zmy2fG8zvGhoUB8CDeYumFkmKzeEPiTxlVh4-xjZYgbI6COdx2H_5THxcLmtIriyuVD32NvE6-0GAte8ChkhxPexhRMaWJ2QB6j7j-rPKpmJ-bP1YmHiiqvFx1HMsqQdR7s0Qz21RU/w400-h165/what-is-criminal-justice-974588-v31-5c115210c9e77c00013ae766.webp" width="400" /></a></div><br /><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">HISTORICAL CONTEXT</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><i>Production
<o:p></o:p></i></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span></span></i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The
writing of <i>The Bad Batch</i> took place while editing </span><a href="https://thesociologistsdojo.blogspot.com/2024/02/the-films-of-ana-lily-amirpour-girl.html"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">A
Girl Walks Home Alone at Night</span></i></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">. Since Amirpour has likened
the process of editing to the scene in <i>The Shawshank Redemption</i> when
Andy Dufrene crawls through a sewer pipe to escape, it is understandable that
she would need to have her own extrication from its disgusting monotony. </span><a href="https://youtu.be/auFuVA8JmbY?si=D3qHrNZtckIRmJGn"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">In interviews</span></a><span class="MsoHyperlink"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">, Amirpour has</span></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"> stated that while
writing <i>The Bad Batch</i> she was in a period of great transition in her
life; “one that violently rips apart your identity” and from that, she conjured
this vision of a woman in the desert, bleeding, missing and arm and a leg.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That image stayed with Amirpour all the way through
the grueling 28-day shoot in the Salten sea deserts of California in April of 2015.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Amirpour
cites Jodorowsky’s <i>El Topo</i> and <i>Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland </i>by
Lewis Carroll as primary influences on <i>The Bad Batch</i>. Being a western, <i>El
Topo </i>seem like an understandable source of inspiration especially given the
barren landscape. However, it is through the “looking glass” of Carroll’s <i>Alice</i>
that the film takes on this ethereal quality, especially at the opening when we
as an audience cross over with Arlen into the wasteland. The menagerie of characters
and nightmare fueled experiences she has on her journey to find Comfort and “Dream”,
is such a mesmerizingly beguiled adventure that it could have sprung from
Carrol’s Consciousness (including the grooming pedophilia towards the end of
the film).<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In addition to the direct influences of Carroll
and Jodorowsky, there are also flavors of George Miller’s <i>Mad Max</i> series
(<i>Fury Road</i> coming out in 2015) and John Carpenter’s <i>Escape</i> films.
Like those films, <i>The Bad Batch </i>has an authoritarian government (the acronymically
vague USRCS) that deports denizens depending on dubious deplorability. The
audience is unclear as to the so called “crimes” that these people were found
guilty of to deserve such punishment, or how many of “The Bad Batch” there are,
outside of the brief glimpse of the prison-like number that is tattooed behind
each person’s ear, right before they are released. This number increases with
each person it is applied to, the most recently removed having the most up to
date number as to “The Bad Batch’s population. This is akin to the Carpenter
classics, just as the communities Arlen encounters, with their clothing,
technology, and other resources being based in the scavenging and repurposing of
products for what they need, is a cornerstone of Miller’s Mad Max Movies. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>While never stated, I am sure that there was
Cannibalism at the beginning of Mad Max’s post apocalypse. While Miller spared
the audience, Amirpour makes us stare it right in the face. It is with such
indifferent detachment that Arlen’s arm and leg are removed from her body, and
placed on a grill, that makes this contemporary horror world feel lived in,
raw, real. So real in fact, that given the time-period when this film was
released, it feels like we are just a proverbial stone’s throw from this
outcome.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i>US Political Context<o:p></o:p></i></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Three months after production
wrapped on <i>The Bad Batch, </i>Donald Trump, then a real estate “billionaire”
and media personality, awkwardly rode down an escalator and proceeded to give
what would be, at the time, one of the most racistly unhinged and deranged Presidential
running announcements in history.<a href="https://d.docs.live.net/bb5a620476910e43/Documents/Sociologists%20Dojo/The%20Bad%20Batch%20Review%20.docx#_ftn1" name="_ftnref1" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn1;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Aptos; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[1]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a> In this speech, Trump condemned
Mexican Immigrants as </span><a href="https://time.com/3923128/donald-trump-announcement-speech/"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">drug
addled rapists</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"> who needed to be removed and our borders
strengthened. By the time the film was released widely, two years later, Donald
Trump had been elected President and he had instituted a </span><a href="https://refugeerights.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/The-Muslim-Bans-An-Overview-3.pdf"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Six
country travel ban</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"> on non-white countries </span><a href="https://apnews.com/article/immigration-north-america-donald-trump-ap-top-news-international-news-fdda2ff0b877416c8ae1c1a77a3cc425"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">he
reportedly called “shitholes</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">.” It is eerily prophetic
that the expulsion of “The Bad Batch” depicted in Amirpour’s film, is like the
eventual (and current) state of the US/Mexico border in how we handle asylums,
the separation of families, and the erecting of detention centers (see Social
Analysis). People did not want to experience this harrowing tale both in the
news and in their entertainment media, which many use as a form of escape from
real world troubles and issues. This most likely contributed to, but was not
likely the cause of, the film being leveed with heavy artistic and commercial
criticism upon release. <i><o:p></o:p></i></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><i>Critical
Reception <o:p></o:p></i></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The international success
of <i>A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night </i>provided a lot of opportunities for
Amirpour. Yet, it was clear, even from the reviews of her debut film, that many
in the industry wanted to label and pigeon-hole her into a certain style while making
assumptions about the themes she is interested in. The industry was trying to
codify and package her art. It is clear with the critical response to <i>The
Bad Batch, </i>many people either didn’t get what Amirpour was attempting to do,
or did not like what she presented because it went against the image of who
they thought Amirpour was; which </span><a href="https://youtu.be/7Uc1zafNwV8?si=3cKq8Y4M3QOVYmnm"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">made some people
resentful</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">. Therefore, in addition to only making </span><a href="https://www.boxofficemojo.com/title/tt4334266/"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">$201,000 off of a
6 million dollar budget</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"> (not including marketing), the film
holds a </span><a href="https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_bad_batch"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">review
aggregate of 46% from 101 critical reviews</span></a><span class="MsoHyperlink"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">,</span></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"> <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>despite winning </span><a href="https://deadline.com/2016/07/venice-film-festival-2016-lineup-full-list-1201794095/"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">the
Special Jury Prize</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"> at the Canne Film festival, the year of
its release. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>bell
hooks (2009) discusses, in the context of blackness in cinema, the support for
the progressive vision of the Avant-Garde; to which she identifies as any
filmmaking/filmmaker who is non-white or that does not reproduce a white cultural
narrative. “Patriarchal cinematic practices inform so much of what is
identified as film… that audiences are more comfortable watching black women
when we are kept in our place by sexist and racist characterizations.” (hooks
2009:127). This perspective, much like the discipline of Sociology, sees the familiar
as strange and sees strange in the familiar (hooks 2009). To that end, it is hooks’
(2009) belief that if filmmakers of color would discard the “patriarchal
cinematic pedagogy” there would be a revolution; because without it, no amount
of deconstruction of “white supremacist capitalist patriarchal cinema” will
lead to social change (hooks 2009:135). <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Through
the lens provided by hooks (2009), Amirpour’s <i>The Bad Batch </i>is
recontextualized. A lot of the expectations for this film centered around
Amirpour continuing to explore the themes of her previous work, namely feminism
and female empowerment. And while a woman coming into her power amidst a
“preapocalyptic” arrakeen landscape is central to the plot and various themes
of <i>The Bad Batch</i>, many people did not care for the abrupt harshness of
the world Amirpour depicts: a gruelingly punishing world that exacts a literal
extraction of its proverbial pound of flesh from the protagonist, left many in
a state of shock. Yet, because the protagonist is a woman, many interpret the violence
that is put upon her was because of her gender presentation, and that
presenting such violence, on such a body, normalizes misogyny. Also, considering
this violence is exacted by other women, it displays the different forms of
internalized misogyny that can exist within patriarchal (sub)cultures, including
“The patriarchal bargain”, which sees women reinforcing stereotypical gender
norms, and propping up men into authoritative positions to then glean some of
that power for themselves by their relational proximity to men. The patriarchal
bargain could be an interpretation of the actions of Arlen’s captors,
considering that the men of “The Bridge” community are ‘roided’ out cannibals
and the pained reluctance and nonchalance, with which these women dismember
Arlen. Yet, it is the harshness of this landscape that produces such behavior which
is not exclusively levied against women; men in equal measure are dismembered
for the community’s sustenance. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Thus, a
lot of the pushback on this film is from those whose expectations weren’t met
by the film’s final form, and the themes that they were expecting did not have
the same clear socio-political delineation as was seen in Amirpour’s previous
work.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>However, this is the avant-garde filmmaking
that is necessary to break us of certain forms of white supremacy cinema. As
bell hooks (2009) states: “…the more commonly accepted markers of avant-garde
filmmaking may be too restrictive for work that endeavors to engage in the
politics of representation (p 133). While that may not be exactly what Amirpour
is attempting to do here with <i>The Bad Batch,</i> we need filmmakers like her
to continue to push outside of the socially acceptable “revolutionary boxes”
social systems generate so that they can control and minimize the effects of
ideologies that are fundamentally disruptive to its operation. Such is the case
with any female empowerment and Feminist rhetoric media content that seems to
present a progressive perspective, only to be one that is easily consumed,
repackaged, and sold back to us as a commodified identity; thereby becoming nonthreatening
(Zeisler 2016). <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><i>Race
Controversy<o:p></o:p></i></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span></span></i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">One
of the more specific and salient criticisms of <i>The Bad Batch, </i>is its racist
depictions of violence and death. The only characters in the film to die are Black.
First, Arlen (played by Suki Waterhouse, a White woman)<i> </i>shoots a Black
woman in revenge for her dismembering, even though this black woman was a
reluctant cannibal, and was not responsible for Arlene’s amputated limbs. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Granted it is through that murder that Arlen finds
purpose, and begins to value life, but I think that we have come further along
in Cinematic history, even in 2016, than to have a Black character not only be “</span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women_in_refrigerators"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">fridged</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">’
for the propelling of a White female narrative, but to have that White Female
character supplant her victim by taking her place within the family unit. The second
and the last person to die is a fellow cannibal who looks to trade gasoline to
Miami Man (Jason Momoa) for Arlen. Miami Man seemingly agrees, allowing the cannibal
to walk a few feet away before killing him with a series of knives, and then
retrieving Arlen. Many film scholars have taken the stance that just because something
is depicted on screen does not mean that the filmmakers have a tacit endorsement
of that behavior or action.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Amirpour
seems to share this sentiment when she was called out 8 weeks into her festival
run by an audience member who was offended by the depictions in the film.
Amirpour cocked her head to the side and said </span><a href="https://www.indiewire.com/features/general/ana-lily-amirpour-interview-the-bad-batch-1201846307/"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“Just
because I give you something to look at, doesn’t mean I’m telling you what to
see.”</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"> While Amirpour is not doubling down on the depictions
in her film, she is less than conciliatory to this interpretation of her work.
It was only after this continued to come up, that she gave a lengthier
response:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“</span><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;">I’m
a brown woman immigrant, my family escaped the Iranian Revolution, I grew up on
two continents, English wasn’t the first language in my home,” she said over
lunch in New York a few days before the film’s release. “I know what it is to
be the ‘other’ very, very well. My film and my filmmaking is all about asking
questions about how the system pits us against each other. If anything, this
movie is about how we are eating each other. It’s fine, I get it, some people
don’t see those things or ask those questions. Cinema is a private, personal
experience for an individual. But this felt personal against me.”</span></i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">While Amirpour implies
that her brown skin and ethnicity means that she can’t be racist, a false
assumption and a callous use of one’s own identity as a shield against the
criticism of their art, she does provide an alternative answer. Sociologically,
this is also interesting when thinking about “the death of the author” and the
public ownership of media content. Based on the quote(s) above, it does not
seem like Amirpour intended to only depict violence and death through Black
bodies. However, with increased racial media literacy on her part and the part
of the editor, the racial optics would be glaringly apparent regardless of intention.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Additionally, for depictions of dangerous,
illegal, or otherwise disgusting behavior, actions, or ideals to not be an endorsement,
there needs to be either consequences for such behavior, or a clear delineation
of morality between those individuals that commit those acts/atrocities and
those that don’t. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One of the problems
with “the art is subjective” stance, is that it often is used to protect
artists and filmmakers from the consequences that their content produces in the
populace, rather than filmmakers feeling socially responsible for how their
work is received. From film we get introduced to new ideas, gain new goals or
career paths, see and understand the world in a new and different way; it is a
source of knowledge and a source of influential power that the creators of such
content should hold with more responsibility and respect. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifWcSpJoovIHtS4pcAV6pVbhBSLCPlr8To3muluFwvCUoLbMGyi4Bz29Q8kWJ1XH3QotLLWsZQfg9AIDbunJFVeopm3umsX2d6uWEgPpeBttkDfFarm2zT-tDPECrdKad6yqZRTYsiu1YZL4_X5b3ote44_XjXnCZMbbhk9UWIuz8g46miJ2eiZ3MLRwJV/s720/B9lSVCGIAAM7LCK.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="404" data-original-width="720" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifWcSpJoovIHtS4pcAV6pVbhBSLCPlr8To3muluFwvCUoLbMGyi4Bz29Q8kWJ1XH3QotLLWsZQfg9AIDbunJFVeopm3umsX2d6uWEgPpeBttkDfFarm2zT-tDPECrdKad6yqZRTYsiu1YZL4_X5b3ote44_XjXnCZMbbhk9UWIuz8g46miJ2eiZ3MLRwJV/w400-h225/B9lSVCGIAAM7LCK.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">SOCIAL ANALYSIS <o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span></span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The
opening of <i>The Bad Batch </i>begins in media res, and before we get a single
clear piece of footage, over the production company logos, we begin to hear the
authoritative extradition process for those deemed unworthy to stay/live within
the United States. The voice over explains how those deemed as “Bad Batch”
shall be treated and how others should interact with them. We see quick cut
shots of a woman getting a head tattoo above the arch of her ear with the
letters BB and a number. She is then taken out to the desert and forced to walk
through a barbed wire chain link fence. She is allowed her belongings, a single
meal, and a gallon jug of water. The sequence lasts less than one minute. In
that time, the audience is left to ponder the single most important question: What
are the social conditions necessary to allow this to happen, and how did we get
here? <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>These questions lead to
implications about modern US immigration and the militarization of the border, that
when contemplated in </span><a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/02/20/trump-mass-deportations-immigration/"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">the
current socio-political context, are closer to resembling the events of the
film</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">
than most are comfortable with, or even willing to admit.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><i>Immigration
<o:p></o:p></i></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Since its inception, the United
States’ track record on immigration has been abysmal. From the genocidal
removal of native peoples, the involuntary human trafficking of Black slaves
for profit, race based quotas on voluntary immigration for ethnically white and
non-white people, the criminalizing of people of color’s mere existence/presence
in the country based upon whatever endless war we are fighting abroad, to the
fear mongering of white naturally born citizens in order to ensure a
militarized southern border that is racistly hypocriful compared to its
northern counterpart, and the separation of immigrant families leading to child
death are all aspects of the bipartisan anti-immigrant deportation machine that
has been identifying, dehumanizing and removing varieties of people of color
from the United States for centuries (Goodman 2021). <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>This
extraditing mechanism is supported by three pillars: formal deportations, voluntary
departures, and self-deportations; all working in tandem to guarantee “the land
of the free” only applies to white people. In fact, “eight out of every ten deportations
since the 1880s have occurred via a fast track, administrative removal procedure
euphemistically called “voluntary departures.” (Goodman 2021: 221). This
implies that while not initiated by the individuals themselves, there was
little to no resistance when identification and removal was applied to them. Many
others “choose” to self deport due to the horrendous anti-immigration laws,
threats to actual acts of violence, and perpetual fear mongering designed to
make living in the United States so miserable that people leave. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Given
Miami Man’s “Bad Batch” number (88), it is implied that he was one of the first
to be deported under the new law. His crime? He was a Cuban immigrant living in
Florida. This is analogous to actual US immigration policies that see non-white
immigrants as the enemy, thereby deporting them first under some new draconian
policy that criminalizes human existence in a particular geographic location. Typically,
the policy is first applied to those who’ve been scapegoated as undesirable
leeches on the limited resources of a country, then behind closed doors quietly
expanded upon to apply to scores of others. Unfortunately, this seems to be
playing out in real time with Donald Trump’s 2025 plan for immigration (if he
reclaims the presidency in November 2024).<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The
fictitious immigration policies of Ana lily Amirpour’s <i>The Bad Batch</i> and
Donald Trump’s proposed 2025 Immigration agenda are staggeringly similar. In
the beginning moments of the film, after being dropped off by border patrol
agents, Arlen walks past a sign that reads:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;">Beyond
this fence is no longer the territory of Texas; that hereafter no person within
that territory beyond this fence is a resident of the United States of America
or shall be acknowledged, recognized, or governed by the laws and governing
bodies therein. Good Luck!<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Title 18 USRCS</span></i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">In the film, as stated above, this is something that
was first applied to migrants and other documented or undocumented immigrants
then expanded to other people defined as unsuitable. We do not know what
“crime” Arlen, who is presented as a young white woman, could have committed to
earn her a “Bad Batch” number. But the way that she looks longingly mournful at
a picture of her and another woman early in the film, it is possible that she
is bisexual, thus explaining her exile.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This
gives credence that in the film there was a reestablishment of a white heterosexual
Patriarchal Christian ethnostate; one that Donald Trump seemingly wants to (re)create
with his 2025 plan.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>If
re-elected, </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_2025"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Trump’s
Project 2025 plan</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"> proposes:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="margin-left: 51.0pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Outlawing Plan B and other “Morning After”
pills and their distribution across the country through The Comstock Act of
1870<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 51.0pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Elevating Christian Nationalism and its
influence on government.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 51.0pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Dismantling strategies for eliminating
Green House Gasses including the EPA.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 51.0pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Expand Presidential Powers under Article 2
and adopt the unitary executive theory. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 51.0pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Eliminating the independence of the DOJ<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 51.0pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Outlawing Pornography<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 51.0pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Retaliation and retribution against
political opponents and the Media <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 51.0pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">A Reintroduction of the citizenship
question on the US Census <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 51.0pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Mass Deportation of Immigrants by Deputizing
the National Guard, ATF, DEA, and local police forces and deploy them in “blue”
states to conduct immigration raids.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="margin-left: 51.0pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Re-establish a Spoils system that grants
government jobs to those loyal to the party (i.e. Trump) <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 15.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">It is this nakedly
authoritarian proposal which centralizes institutional power in the executive
branch, dismantles the other branches of government or absorbs them; thereby
eliminating the checks and balances system. Suddenly, 2025 feels like a possible
prologue to the events in Amirpour’s <i>The Bad Batch</i>. Such an oppressive
government must exist for an immigration policy that not only restricts access
into the country, but unilaterally revokes/denies citizenship for not following
the whims and desires of a single person, political party nor their cultural
identity. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 15.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>This general attack on Immigration in the United States is
entirely cultural; a form of racism that seeks to disempower the political
capital of immigrants as an economic and social resource. Xenophobic fear of
lost (read as “stolen”) jobs has roots in the first immigration act
restrictions against Chinese immigrants (Desmond 2023). Immigration policy,
especially the one under the Trump 2025 Project, will seek to circumvent the constitutional
right for states to be able to govern themselves, as 50% of immigrants live in
the states of California, Florida, and Texas, which, regardless of rhetoric, has
not caused an increase in those state’s poverty rates (Desmond 2023). In fact, many
immigrants have some of the highest rates of economic mobility. Their
collective success impacts neither white wages nor employment, because most
immigrants are competing with other immigrants for the same jobs (Desmond
2023). However, politically manufactured “border crises” are economic boons for
the collusive connections of the Military Industrial Complex that, fueled by fear
mongering tactics, continues to maintain the bipartisan supported economic
viability of military production. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 15.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After
9/11, the beginning of “The War on Terror”, and the establishment of the
Department of Homeland Security (DHS), there was an increased effort to funnel
military style weapons, gear, tactics, and training down to the US/Mexico
border to “secure it”. One of the first offices under this new initiative was
the Border Patrol Tactical Unit (BORTAC). According to Balko (2021) these
members became “the most violent and racist in all of law enforcement, [as] they
do not exist within the realm of civilian law enforcement. They view people…as enemy
combatants, meaning they have no rights” (p.414). It is these kinds of federal
officers that Donald Trump, in his 2025 plan, wants to send into “blue” states
in cities like Seattle, Chicago, Albuquerque, Cleavland and Milwaukee (Balko
2021). Such an action seems expected in a “pre-Apocalyptic” film like <i>The
Bad Batch</i>. It is a harder pill to swallow when it’s presented as possible public
policy.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 15.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 15pt; text-align: center;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiePwH5hJRLLusrjFBBtxRgIbw3lXz9JI6n4qs_ulBMB59jX5ZIpW_T7lAHS2ixmvu2LBTMRR5j0plu2edPJUyqPSkRDVcoeV__i3ygiyby-oaEhEn9XwRDVBjRtKZBQjozFRjMdJQygsi7PYa6h5YbHZUTJ21N6lKcOCQk1xubb47Dd8DAOBUxAdvAzRDO/s1240/cbfyBJGxKGbL6Kg5mFBwwlcLjymysR1HXUMXrFVM7Vk.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="775" data-original-width="1240" height="250" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiePwH5hJRLLusrjFBBtxRgIbw3lXz9JI6n4qs_ulBMB59jX5ZIpW_T7lAHS2ixmvu2LBTMRR5j0plu2edPJUyqPSkRDVcoeV__i3ygiyby-oaEhEn9XwRDVBjRtKZBQjozFRjMdJQygsi7PYa6h5YbHZUTJ21N6lKcOCQk1xubb47Dd8DAOBUxAdvAzRDO/w400-h250/cbfyBJGxKGbL6Kg5mFBwwlcLjymysR1HXUMXrFVM7Vk.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 15.0pt;"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Disability as Metaphor for Hardship <o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 15.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Throughout film history, disability has always had a precarious
representation on screen. From the work of Lon Cheney in the silent film era, to
current blockbusters, disability has always been used as a tool of emotional
evocation for non-disabled people (Norden 1990). Consistently, Disabled people
and their bodies are used as conduits for filmmakers to reach their (usually
non-disabled) audience (Snyder and Mitchel 2010). Through these images, the non-disabled
are infused with a range of emotions, from relief to dread, that this disabled
body is not them… but it could be. The chief emotion that is regularly deployed
is pity (part of the dread/relief cycle) which fuels the tired trope of </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inspiration_porn"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">inspiration porn</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">.
This is the process by which the disabled body is used either to motivate non-disabled
people or cause them to be self-reflective on the “value” of their
ablebodiedness. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Yet, in addition to being generally ableist, continuing
to view disability in this way masks its normalcy. The image of the disabled
body is still overpopulated within the horror genre. It regularly presents
images of disability as punishment, or as a cautionary tale, and </span><a href="https://thesociologistsdojo.blogspot.com/2021/10/not-just-villain-disability-and.html"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">maintains
the perception that disability is the horror itself.</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"> Disablement
exists simultaneously as the threat from an antagonist (who often might also be
disabled) and the source of retributive justice for the protagonist.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 15.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The disablement that is depicted in <i>The Bad Batch</i> is
designed to present the perilous dangers of the world. You will lose literal
parts of yourself out there.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As Arlen is
chained up and looks around at the other disabled prisoners, waiting to be
slaughtered, there is a sense of helplessness. Additionally, once she escapes,
a process that through quick editing jumps over the actual freedom from the
compound, her recovery, and acclimation to a prosthetic leg is similarly
truncated. This, intentionally or not, makes glaringly obvious that the
filmmakers did not think to have a disability consultant on set to accurately
depict the movement, and needs of a double amputee. Amirpour also seems to
handwave the process of moving from vulnerability to strength through the
film’s time jump; being more interested in the way that acquired disability
creates a desire for revenge, above anything else. Here, Arlen’s body is
fridged (well, literally grilled) to motivate the story. Without this disability
trope, there is no initial motivation for Arlen to move through the rest of the
film. Thus, disability is presented here as both trauma and a plot contrivance.
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAq2SsP7TztgsTJGkj70g3HhVb11PhhpqqqCqxNLvNFSqrFuEuUPII2k0ewZU7J2_LGpv1hYii7-8twz2djDsFDlSzOiHyRRY3yxgSug6xzALIN_mtCsBcbf5k1Ox1jine99Sl0MxbFzKtUMdMbUjB28F5GR47GrYGvnOXmqB1RC7SQKEyRZzEO3_nEO96/s1920/The-Matrix-Resurrections-4-Red-Blue-Pill-Teaser-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="914" data-original-width="1920" height="190" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAq2SsP7TztgsTJGkj70g3HhVb11PhhpqqqCqxNLvNFSqrFuEuUPII2k0ewZU7J2_LGpv1hYii7-8twz2djDsFDlSzOiHyRRY3yxgSug6xzALIN_mtCsBcbf5k1Ox1jine99Sl0MxbFzKtUMdMbUjB28F5GR47GrYGvnOXmqB1RC7SQKEyRZzEO3_nEO96/w400-h190/The-Matrix-Resurrections-4-Red-Blue-Pill-Teaser-1.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><br /><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 15.0pt;"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The Lesser of Two Evils <o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 15.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Durkheim’s (2014) understanding of the social order revolves
around a society’s social solidarity or integration within a particular group.
According to Durkheim (2014), these social entanglements are simple in mechanically
solidaric societies and grow increasingly complex until they become organically
solidaric societies. Mechanical solidarity is usually a characteristic of pre-industrial
societies that have less complex social structural forms. Many of the ties that
bind in these communities are based upon kinship, direct mutual relationships. Whereas
societies with organic solidarity, which are organized based upon an acute
division of labor, consisting of shared values, and integrated rituals. In both
organizational forms there is a collective consciousness: the shared beliefs and
moralities that act as a unifying force amongst its people. Mechanically
solidaric societies tend to have a collective conscience that is concrete and
specific, revolving around religiosity and often cult like behavior. Contrarily,
organic solidarity has a collective conscience that is increasingly secular,
and values individual dignity, equality of opportunity, work ethics and social
justice (Durkheim 2014). <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 15.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Because the communal organizations in <i>The Bad Batch </i>are
more so a part of Amirpour’s ethereal backdrop of nightmarish sublimity on
which the narrative is painted, it is difficult to graph on Durkheim’s ideal
types to a fictitious social structure that did not clarify the specifics of
its social order.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At face value, The
Bridge community is mechanically organized, and Comfort is organized
organically. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Bridge community has
strict rules, is not interested in integration or expanding their society, and
has repressive sanctions. Of the people in the Bridge community that we meet, everyone
participates in the capturing and slaughtering of new ‘Bad Batch’ inmates. Social
bonds are based in a weak system of trade based on needs and survival. The
leader of The Bridge people, Miami Man, rules by fear and presence; caring
little about anything outside of his kin, specifically his daughter, Honey, who’s
reclamation becomes his central arc in the film.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 15.0pt; text-indent: 21.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Meanwhile, Comfort has structural
organization, commerce, sanitation, water access, and a division of labor that provides
health, food, and (relative) safety. From this organic solidarity rises a charismatic
leader in the form of “The Dream” who establishes a dictatorial rule through
the possession and distribution of hallucinogenic drugs and control of waste
removal. He keeps a majority of the community in a perpetual state of
intoxication to maintain passivity, and from that capitulation through distraction,
he establishes a misogynistically pedophilic sex slavery ring which grooms girls
for impregnation by “Dream” once they reach puberty.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The harsh violence of the world is still very
salient in each community. The delivery of that violence is what separates
them. Do you want to be treated the same (as cattle) in one group, or do you
want the illusion of safety/security while violence is perpetrated on bodies
behind closed doors for the disgusting sexual proclivities of a misogynistic mediocre
white man? In the sociological tension of agency vs structure, Arlen chooses the
former, because as brutal as the world of <i>The Bad Batch </i>is, at least it
does not pretend to be anything other than apocryphal. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 15.0pt; text-indent: 21.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 15pt; text-align: center; text-indent: 21pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBMxfv93tgXsmNQkS4MaLtickACmuC35SgvKf2OSEhFxEnqK1LmLmsd3DVowOHaQJ0vO9h1sJjcmAOjDdDF8QqolVp7LvqmgCn20LaJsF6KlXYg1uED441OdGgJZ-4YO-zyslZ0NJbro3qURsuMBi3vYFQGC19FdUYndSN_MnedjO65RZ9YOZKHoBtTI5e/s491/hinumg7e8udw9fzomqs0.webp" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="491" data-original-width="350" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBMxfv93tgXsmNQkS4MaLtickACmuC35SgvKf2OSEhFxEnqK1LmLmsd3DVowOHaQJ0vO9h1sJjcmAOjDdDF8QqolVp7LvqmgCn20LaJsF6KlXYg1uED441OdGgJZ-4YO-zyslZ0NJbro3qURsuMBi3vYFQGC19FdUYndSN_MnedjO65RZ9YOZKHoBtTI5e/w285-h400/hinumg7e8udw9fzomqs0.webp" width="285" /></a></div><br /><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 15.0pt;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">CONCLUSION <o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 15.0pt;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span></span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Ana Lily Amirpour’s <i>The Bad Batch </i>is
an eclectically gonzo amalgamated cataclysmic intersection of genre, tone, and
plot devices/contrivances. While it fails to reach the critical and commercial
success of its predecessor, the radical choices here make the world so
immersive; that its flavor should saturate all independent cinema. Amirpour is
the unsung hero of Gen X deconstructive avant-garde filmmaking, flaunting
convention in storytelling and character motivational tropes. She is just the
acrid balance to the homogenized monocultural saccharinity of big budget
industrially produced feature length content that is currently consuming cinema.
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 15.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 15.0pt;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">REFERENCES<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 51.1pt; text-indent: -.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Balko,
Radley 2021. <i>Rise of the Warrior Cop: The Militarization of America’s Police
Forces </i>New York: Public Affairs Press <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 51.1pt; text-indent: -.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Desmond,
Mathew 2023. <i>Poverty, By America </i>New York: Crown Publishing.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 51.1pt; text-indent: -.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Durkheim,
Emile 2014. <i>The Division of Labor in Society </i>New York: Free Press<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 51.1pt; text-indent: -.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Goodman,
Adam, 2021. “The Expulsion of Immigrants: America’s Deportation Machine” in <i>A
Field Guide to White Supremacy </i>Kathleen Belew and Ramon Gutierrez (eds.) pp
220-229 Oakland: University of California Press.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 51.1pt; text-indent: -.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Hooks, bell 1996. <i>Reel to Real: Race, Class
and sex at the movies </i>New York: Routledge. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 51.1pt; text-indent: -.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Norden,
Martin 1994. <i>The Cinema of Isolation: A History of Physical Disability in
Movies </i>New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 51.1pt; text-indent: -.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 51.1pt; text-indent: -.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Snyder,
Sharon L. and David T. Mitchell 2010. “Body Genres: An Anatomy of Disability in
Film.” In <i>The Problem Body: Projecting Disability on Film </i>Sally Chivers and
Nicole Markotic (eds.) pp179-204 Columbus: The Ohio State University Press. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 51.1pt; text-indent: -.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 51.1pt; text-indent: -.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Zeisler,
Andi 2016. <i>We Were Feminists Once: From Riot Grrl to Covergirl the buying
and Selling of a Political Movement</i> New York: Public Affairs Press.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 15.0pt;"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 15.0pt;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<div style="mso-element: footnote-list;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><br clear="all" />
<hr align="left" size="1" width="33%" />
<!--[endif]-->
<div id="ftn1" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<p class="MsoFootnoteText"><a href="https://d.docs.live.net/bb5a620476910e43/Documents/Sociologists%20Dojo/The%20Bad%20Batch%20Review%20.docx#_ftnref1" name="_ftn1" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn1;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Aptos",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Aptos; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[1]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a> He
would go on to top this racistly scapegoating lunacy many times over during the
course of his political career that is still ongoing, at the point of this
writing.<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
</div><br /><p></p>Brian Brutlaghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08099644007940320266noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8714941782515128558.post-76475321916806238512024-02-10T11:01:00.000-08:002024-02-10T11:01:22.576-08:00The Films of Ana Lily Amirpour: A Girl Walk Home Alone at Night <p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpKkSFUtb1AU8a5j58tP5wIiuu_rr2xE4Rvh49kRtht6nzKV24xJU8BIrSpfc4oEIwCe7XTTnPSZL9xeULRPDWQFvi2HetvokyU5CwUEIAfH8dFAupHTeZwd4OTQFw91w3ejT73GYrPnZW0Mk9bjc1IGon1Dp71Gx1j16Jv3smvt1xHzu9moi2RtJaehEZ/s1224/1071331_1341854939939_full.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1224" data-original-width="792" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpKkSFUtb1AU8a5j58tP5wIiuu_rr2xE4Rvh49kRtht6nzKV24xJU8BIrSpfc4oEIwCe7XTTnPSZL9xeULRPDWQFvi2HetvokyU5CwUEIAfH8dFAupHTeZwd4OTQFw91w3ejT73GYrPnZW0Mk9bjc1IGon1Dp71Gx1j16Jv3smvt1xHzu9moi2RtJaehEZ/w259-h400/1071331_1341854939939_full.png" width="259" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The
first film in my analysis of </span><a href="https://thesociologistsdojo.blogspot.com/search/label/The%20Films%20of%20Ana%20lily%20Amirpour"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The
Films of Ana Lily Amirpour</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"> is the goth vampiric German expressionist
spaghetti western </span><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2326554/"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">A
Girl Walks Home Alone at Night</span></i></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">. This debut film is an
artistic accomplishment in the amalgamation of genre, tone, and theme. The
composition of this film, its pace, and subversive subject matter was to become
an eventual calling card for future films with Amirpour at the helm. This
freshman film in what I like to call Amirpour’s </span><a href="https://www.a-rabbitsfoot.com/editorial/confessions/politics-and-film-with-lily-amirpour-words-can-make-a-big-thing-small/"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“Apocalyptic
Anomie” Trilogy (<i>Girl, Batch, Moon</i>)</span></a><span class="MsoHyperlink"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">,</span></span><a href="https://d.docs.live.net/bb5a620476910e43/Documents/Sociologists%20Dojo/A%20Girl%20Walks%20Home%20Alone%20at%20Night%20Review%20.docx#_ftn1" name="_ftnref1" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn1;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[1]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"> is
an eclectic encapsulation of the director’s favorite things: music, movies, and
movements. Yet, this ambitiously anarchic allegory of Feminism, isolated ennui,
and the languished longing for love/life was nearly snuffed out by a transforming
cinematic landscape. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/_YGmTdo3vuY" width="320" youtube-src-id="_YGmTdo3vuY"></iframe></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">PLOT<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span></span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">A
young man in an impoverished Iranian city becomes ensorcelled in the
supernatural when, after losing his car to the local drug dealer (due to his
father’s drug use and addition to prostitutes), he encounters a female
presenting vampire. As their attraction grows, paralleled by her viniferous body
count, they must decide to stay and face consequences, or flee and take their chances
together on the open road.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2hlB78AD-eVvuh2KVJwRPGQTywlAo84yUFHU7w4UbnAI_Qw3ZdLPmFimtv7j2nX-VWQKNYia8b9VeLTLRn_ah9wSRMs2BduxaclV2cV4N1ox_eBL39rNeX3afi1jHHHJktEs9nWTbaMWdkbuhYHJIYTUPAX4Hc3hyWgoAdAf0T37Ib08aVdJsEFgM0oVk/s1212/th%20(1).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="601" data-original-width="1212" height="199" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2hlB78AD-eVvuh2KVJwRPGQTywlAo84yUFHU7w4UbnAI_Qw3ZdLPmFimtv7j2nX-VWQKNYia8b9VeLTLRn_ah9wSRMs2BduxaclV2cV4N1ox_eBL39rNeX3afi1jHHHJktEs9nWTbaMWdkbuhYHJIYTUPAX4Hc3hyWgoAdAf0T37Ib08aVdJsEFgM0oVk/w400-h199/th%20(1).jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span></div><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">HISTORICAL CONTEXT</span></b><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span></span></b><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">A
Girl Walks Home Alone at Night </span></i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">produced between 2012-2014<i> </i>is
the perfect encapsulation of the indie movie scene at a time when </span><a href="https://thesociologistsdojo.blogspot.com/2020/09/comics-cultural-collateral-damage.html"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">the
monopolistic monoculture</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">, brought on by Disney </span><a href="https://thesociologistsdojo.blogspot.com/2018/01/a-closing-door-of-choices-sociological.html"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">content
acquisitions</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">, was starting to take hold. The uphill
battle faced by Amirpour and fellow producers, along with the film’s ancillary
thematic content which speak to the socio-political tensions between Iran and
the United States over the last 40 years, point to a systematic yet slouching
sterilization of cinema.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><i>Production
<o:p></o:p></i></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Like many first films, Amirpour’s Gothically
noir reluctant romance began as a short film, then later extended to feature
length. Unlike a lot of indie films of the past, especially during their heyday
of the 1990’s when the independent movie scene was belligerently bolstered by
an aggressively agitating misogynistic sexual predator, Harvey Weinstein, through
his company Miramax, the production of <i>A Girl</i> did not have a typical
trajectory. Usually, a film is made on a shoestring budget, cobbled together with
the director’s lunch money, other loans, or trades for equal value; then
shopped around on the indie film circuit to acquire a distributor. However, after
winning the Noor Iranian Film Festival for the short form version of this
story, Amirpour started a Indigogo page and crowdfunded the film’s expansion
into feature length. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In the early 2010’s crowdfunding was yet to be
commonplace, where a larger number of smaller investors are promised “extras”<a href="https://d.docs.live.net/bb5a620476910e43/Documents/Sociologists%20Dojo/A%20Girl%20Walks%20Home%20Alone%20at%20Night%20Review%20.docx#_ftn2" name="_ftnref2" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn2;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[2]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a> once the production team
and producers reach or exceed their funding goal. The rise of crowdfunding as a
legitimate option for the development of creative projects, as well as the
payment of medical bills, is symptomatic of the continued virulence of Western
Free Market Capitalism. Obviously, of the two examples, the crowdfunding of
medical debt is the more egregious of the two, </span><a href="https://www.washington.edu/news/2022/02/03/for-the-uninsured-crowdfunding-provides-little-help-in-paying-for-health-care-and-deepens-inequities/"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">regardless
of their success rates</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">. Yet, the necessity of crowdfunding creative
projects like <i>A Girl,</i> points to just how risk adverse the major
producers in Hollywood have become; only supporting a project if it is either: socially
and politically vacant, or already bought and paid for. Thus, major studios,
worth billions of dollars, allow the general populace to take on all of the
risk, while they can acquire a sure thing once the monetary goal is reached.<a href="https://d.docs.live.net/bb5a620476910e43/Documents/Sociologists%20Dojo/A%20Girl%20Walks%20Home%20Alone%20at%20Night%20Review%20.docx#_ftn3" name="_ftnref3" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn3;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[3]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a> Similarly, as crowdfunding
is continually used, the more these profit driven companies will attempt to
underinsure potential patients (Medical companies), and </span><a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2023/11/30/disney-ceo-bob-iger-says-movies-have-been-too-focused-on-messaging.html"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">produce
standardized monocultural drivel</span></a><span class="MsoHyperlink"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">
(Media Companies)</span></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>This not only allows for the increase in profits by lowering coverage
and production cost for companies, but it also reinforces the lack of diversity
in healthcare support and storytelling. Just as many poorer people of color are
the ones that end up starting a crowdfunding campaign for medical debt, so too
do non-white male directors and their stories about non-white male gender fluid
persons end up needing similar support. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center; text-indent: 0.5in;"><i></i></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjB9LyEWplVJIWWvllYyABihw-qodA2zWNiIUgTuLjv6LYwgUpt8GdKh0Hq3bAFTQvd4-k0x5lA6kDKwIFGIGrh2igPNv-Z-EHJxmGne2W-MAWeoqSn-aG4rMnPYmNUivbWYrUtNwKzNwB18B-cBXI8i4IQG0ChVi7yqLNqn2yfhlaMVpKodWtIo532SGCk/s800/hinumg7e8udw9fzomqs0.webp" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="450" data-original-width="800" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjB9LyEWplVJIWWvllYyABihw-qodA2zWNiIUgTuLjv6LYwgUpt8GdKh0Hq3bAFTQvd4-k0x5lA6kDKwIFGIGrh2igPNv-Z-EHJxmGne2W-MAWeoqSn-aG4rMnPYmNUivbWYrUtNwKzNwB18B-cBXI8i4IQG0ChVi7yqLNqn2yfhlaMVpKodWtIo532SGCk/w400-h225/hinumg7e8udw9fzomqs0.webp" width="400" /></a></i></div><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></i><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Cinematography<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">A Girl Walks Home Alone
at Night </span></i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">was shot by Lyle Vincent, and along with Amirpour, they craft a sublimely haunted and melancholic tonal tapestry (lacking) technicolor. Shot
in black and white, Vincent and Amirpour use the color grating to sharpen the
angles and definitions of wherever light shines. This allows “The Girl” to
completely disappear in darkness, enveloping her using just her cloak. Amirpour
also chooses to include extreme close-up shots that peer into the psyche of
whomever is the subject of the camera’s focus. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">While the film does have mild
female nudity, the camera never seems to adopt the male gaze. There are no long
tracking shots up or down female bodies and the sex acts depicted are always of
individuals that are fully clothed, while shot from a voyeuristic distance of
an observer. Even when Atti, the prostitute, is dancing provocatively, it is
not presented as lewd, lascivious, or crass. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Additionally, being a fan
of practical effects, Amirpour has many special effect shots that happen in camera,
often in a single take. When “The Girl” is seducing Saeed (the Pimp), in a
single shot, “The Girl’s” fangs are extended and physically interacted with. Similarly,
after “The Girl” bites off Saeed’s finger, she opens her mouth wide in a smile,
and then regurgitates the finger in one long fluidly sexual motion. The former
shot was achieved by film splicing/frame removal; so that the shot with fangs
comes so quickly on the heels of the shot with no fangs (literally the next
frame) it looks as if her fangs are extend/retractable. The latter shot
required the actor to be able to hold the severed finger in her mouth while
smiling which adds to the scene’s sexual entendre.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Yet, the most compelling aspect
of <i>A Girl</i>’s cinematography is the versatility of shot diversity. Whether
between shots, or transitioning from different scenes, Vincent and Amirpour showcase
an assortment of styles. Long lenses, extreme close ups, dolly shots, crane
shots, “Dutch tilts”, slow motion, frame removal…all techniques are present in voluminous
variety. One of the more fascinating cinematic choices being made throughout
the film is the decision never to have the characters at the center of any shot.
This decision not only has our eyes always looking elsewhere, as the audience’s
focus is constantly pulled from the foreground focus to the background, or the
edge of the frame; but it is also designed to increase tension. This is
illustrated in the first scene as Arash (Arash Marandi) walks past the city
limits sign crossing the reservoir, as the shot slows to a crawl, we witness
that the ditch is not filled with water, but with bodies; as the title flashes
on the screen.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Through this stellar
visual storytelling, we understand the looming threat, as we cross the
threshold into a new environment. It is brilliant. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Historical Backdrop: US
and Iranian relations <o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The
film is set in an enigmatically named town in Iran – “Bad City” (a playful
homage to Frank Miller’s <i>Sin City</i>), yet given the socio-political
relations between the two countries, Amirpour, Iranian herself, decided not to
shoot in Iran due to the inevitable gender backlash the film would experience
and a desire to avoid harsher shooting restrictions. Instead, through shot
composition and set dressing, Bakersfield, CA doubled for Iran; and yet, this
film still holds the spirit of the US Iranian relationship which began 80 years
ago.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The diplomatic
souring of US-Iranian relations began in 1953 when the American CIA supported
and aided the Coup of the democratically elected Prime Minister who
nationalized Iranian oil Production and was set to increase oil prices on
Western Countries. Since the US government wanted access to Iranian oil
reserves, they propped up a brutal dictator in ‘The Shah of Iran’ because of his
“pro-west “policies. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Decades later, when the
Shah fled the country, the United States harbored him for a time. Once the Shah
was displaced, an exiled religious leader (Ayatollah Khomeini) dissolved the
monarchy and made himself the legitimate religious authority. Because US
intervention kept The Shah from returning to Iran to face Judgement. Khomeini
loyalist held US Embassy hostages <a href="https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/taken-hostage-iran-hostage-crisis-iconic-images/">for
444 days</a>. After the crisis was abated, and the US/Iranian ties severed, The
US began to sell munitions and aid to Iranian enemies. This included Iraq and
Saddam Hussein in the Iran-Iraq war through the 1980’s.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Tensions again rose in
1985, when the warmongering Pro-Capitalist Regan Administration circumvented
President Jimmy Carter’s Arms Embargo on Iran by selling weapons to Iran under
the guise of supporting Contra Militants topple a Nicaraguan Government. This
was additionally obfuscated by the “<a href="https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/reagan-iran/">Guns
for Hostages</a>” program that traded guns for 7 hostages captured by Hezbollah
terrorists.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i>Girl </i>references this
history through consistent establishing shots of oil fields and a centralized
shot of a partygoer in a Ronald Regan Mask; it becomes a subtle but important
historical backdrop in front of which this story plays out. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1fs_yZjSunq1zBpi4F5HDyoQ40wrmirScDaO0cvzexJEGlLQyrJ7_YMKfJwJCVsbgM4ZS7tTfyjgkVmejcPD8kLf7A0bv3o4HgkLysQNGmVkh30O2Gyb-hSbsGOc6El53IE-imXXyzqRhge1-1FKHZjne3tA2UN5lfA__MRV6itndrTepFRbJIXlFVFGT/s620/B9lSVCGIAAM7LCK.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="350" data-original-width="620" height="226" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1fs_yZjSunq1zBpi4F5HDyoQ40wrmirScDaO0cvzexJEGlLQyrJ7_YMKfJwJCVsbgM4ZS7tTfyjgkVmejcPD8kLf7A0bv3o4HgkLysQNGmVkh30O2Gyb-hSbsGOc6El53IE-imXXyzqRhge1-1FKHZjne3tA2UN5lfA__MRV6itndrTepFRbJIXlFVFGT/w400-h226/B9lSVCGIAAM7LCK.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">SOCIAL ANALYSIS <o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span></span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">One
of the consistent arguments that come up when discussing film, especially if
you are an academic engaging in content analysis of pop culture, is the question:
When does the private ownership of a piece of content stop, and when does the
public ownership of the content begin? Most would say that upon the release of
the content (song, novel, film etc.), the creator’s artistic expression no
longer belongs (solely) to its author. Typically, this argument is invoked when
talking about beloved franchises, and the various characters within them. Does
Dave Filoni owe something to <i>Star Wars </i>fans when he helms a new show or
produces another film? Certainly, the fans think he does…which is the point.
How much does a desire to placate fans edge its way into impacting the creative
freedom of a filmmaker? <a href="https://d.docs.live.net/bb5a620476910e43/Documents/Sociologists%20Dojo/A%20Girl%20Walks%20Home%20Alone%20at%20Night%20Review%20.docx#_ftn4" name="_ftnref4" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn4;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[4]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a> <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Adjacent to this, is when an audience assigns a
political and social message to a piece of content. Whether that messaging is understood
as either divine or diabolical, it is still valued; shaping the film’s public
perception in ways that its creator never intended.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Ironically, the creator is then often pressured
to affirm or deny these claims, thereby making the art less subjective. Granted,
it’s important to gauge the claims based on human rights. <i>The Matrix (1999) </i>can
be interpreted by Right leaning MAGA loving morons as a “reinforcement of…perspectives
indicative of a white male gaze.” (Brutlag 2022). Because of this
interpretation, during the production of <i>The Matrix Resurrections (2021), </i>director
Lana Wachowski felt behooved to clarify an opposing, and more fluidly inclusive
point. With Amirpour films the reverse seems to be happening. Many </span><a href="https://researchrepository.wvu.edu/ugscholarship/2/"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">scholars</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">
and </span><a href="https://foreignpolicy.com/2021/10/30/iran-culture-horror-film-a-girl-walks-home-alone-at-night/"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">film
reviewers</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"> seem to want to label all of her films, but
especially <i>A Girl, </i>as a Feminist film, even when that label has been </span><a href="https://www.scifinow.co.uk/interviews/ana-lily-amirpour-interview-vampires-feminism-and-thriller/"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">rejected
by Amirpour herself</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">. In the context of ownership and
perception, does this mean that the film is feminist regardless of the
creator’s intent? <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Sociologically, Durkheim
(2001) and Goffman (1959) would agree that the film is indeed Feminist, not for
any semblance of their understanding of an actual Feminist argument, but
because of the creation of sacred and the social construction of reality.
Durkheim (2001) understood that the power of religion is in people’s ability to
believe in it. It is through social structures, relationships, and communities
that we give power to myths, legends, gods, and stories. Objects and behaviors
become valuable because of the meaning we ascribe to them. Thus, something
becomes “sacred” because we define it as such. While not being a symbolic
Interactionist, Durkheim skirts the use of an interactionist argument through
his explanation of the sacred.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Similarly, Goffman (1963) proposes that social status can be manipulated
by controlling the perception of ourselves in the eyes of others. Therefore, in
that theoretical context, <i>A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night </i>is ancillary feminist
because that is what the audience sees in its presentation. However, when contemplating
the specific content of the film, an exclusively feminist argument can also be
made.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center; text-indent: 0.5in;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiO3vmw1fgGxKVg2yIec_ApdjuYSIiLU8dsQefGjgQ6u168Ewjb78-SkwYBPyTMx-XkScXxxHr02lsIS5rK2sMlRgxfgNySNKjojBCAQ9ePx5H4ZbiOy_pUN557tjB7vTE7G3-SlHDIkbl2l2ZNx0KEgqmz2XdoQLfG7WINdXvYcSIHmSoeMi0bIVHgQXTy/s600/The-Matrix-Resurrections-4-Red-Blue-Pill-Teaser-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="600" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiO3vmw1fgGxKVg2yIec_ApdjuYSIiLU8dsQefGjgQ6u168Ewjb78-SkwYBPyTMx-XkScXxxHr02lsIS5rK2sMlRgxfgNySNKjojBCAQ9ePx5H4ZbiOy_pUN557tjB7vTE7G3-SlHDIkbl2l2ZNx0KEgqmz2XdoQLfG7WINdXvYcSIHmSoeMi0bIVHgQXTy/w400-h400/The-Matrix-Resurrections-4-Red-Blue-Pill-Teaser-1.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">'A Girl’s' Feminism </span></i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The fundamental premise of <i>A Girl Walks
Home Alone at Night</i> is inherently feminist by placing such a protagonist against
the backdrop of Iran, which still exists in a state of religiously gendered persecution.
In a cheeky act of defiance to these problematic protracted perceptions,
Amirpour reclaims the traditional <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chador">chador</a>
(outer garment often warn by women in Iran made compulsory after the 1980’s Iranian
cultural revolution) by having “The Girl” use it as a cape; providing a subtle
nod to both her own vampiric nature, and early vampire cinema of German Expressionism
and the early 20<sup>th</sup> century Universal Monster Films. The image of “The
Girl” riding a skateboard, with her chador bellowing behind her, is. iconic.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One of the reasons why this film’s feminist
appeal is so widespread is because the vast ubiquity of misogynistic patriarchy.
It unfortunately speaks to many people regardless of culture. As abysmal as the
reality of normalized experiences of misogyny are, there is a collective effervescence
in the commiseration of universal male domination when it is presented through cinema.
Amirpour plays on these gendered assumptions and experiences through the film’s
title. Living in a world <a href="https://www.wired.com/story/best-personal-safety-tech/">where apps are
created and marketed to women to be safe</a>, the
title: “A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night” evokes danger and fear given that for
many men, the simple existence of women (not to mention trans,
nonbinary and queer individuals) is perceived as a threat that needs to be met
with violence. The beautiful juxtaposition of the film’s premise is that the
titular “Girl” <b><u>is </u></b>the danger.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">It is the type of danger
and where “The Girl’s” violence is focused that also infuses the film with a
feminist flavor.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“The Girl’s” targets
are representations of toxic masculinity cringily <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>embodied in one single character (Saeed), and
anyone who troubles Atti (The sex worker). In a conversation with Atti, “The
Girl” explains that she feels a kinship and amity with her because Atti reminds
“The Girl” of herself, stating in a lyrically close haiku:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“You Don’t Remember Wanting.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“It passed long ago.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“Nothing ever Changes.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">This points to the solidarity of women through the
shared experience of living under patriarchy; and while the fracturing of this
unity is often at (usually class and race based) intersectional fault lines, this
enmity can be abated through a focus love and communion (Kendall, 2020, Hamad, 2020,
hooks, 2001, Hubbard, 2022).<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVXeYxKADR8WRv2G2E29fzoM22OUm2SlxmaV8U_sFDfN7LOgBxNX2ddp8_OPPdxH8rVNarg7MpRKXZUot2PpjSGTBPwE0spuCEEnmi8Ong9mz-fgN_CRDV3eUG99UoXT9rM-5KpsLQH9cJn-wgyKbQo7ayNrY1byy2uskfMc9iB5k7sJZWnrxA3bTqXho-/s600/nausicaa-578x801.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="251" data-original-width="600" height="168" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVXeYxKADR8WRv2G2E29fzoM22OUm2SlxmaV8U_sFDfN7LOgBxNX2ddp8_OPPdxH8rVNarg7MpRKXZUot2PpjSGTBPwE0spuCEEnmi8Ong9mz-fgN_CRDV3eUG99UoXT9rM-5KpsLQH9cJn-wgyKbQo7ayNrY1byy2uskfMc9iB5k7sJZWnrxA3bTqXho-/w400-h168/nausicaa-578x801.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Vampirism as [Insert
Allegory Here]<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Throughout the history of
film, vampires have been used as various allegories. It is easy to graft onto
the cinematic vampire image a compelling metaphor for immigration, sexual
identity, gender socialization or Disease. In <i>Girl</i> the vampire is
presented as an amalgamated allegory. Amirpour has stated in press interviews that vampirism is being a romantic serial killer. The danger is in the
allure of the act of consuming the lifeblood to be immortal; but it becomes an amorous
trap of ennui when experienced. Yet, as Amirpour depicts vampirism with a type
of anxious attraction, she also deploys that image to make a statement of drug
addiction and the oil industry.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">In a shallower reading of
this film, “The Girl” is obviously positioned to be the proxy for addiction in
the way she must regularly kill and consume blood to live. While that is
present, the more interesting and deeper addiction messaging comes from Arash’s
father Hussein. Hussein is the nexus for all the characters in the film.
Through his drug use and lust for prostitutes, his addiction destroys all lives
in his vicinity, including his own. In this context, “The Girl” also becomes a
manifestation of addiction itself; causing both hurt and pain to everyone in
Hussein’s vicinity, before finally coming for him. Additionally, every death
that “The Girl” deals (discounting the homeless character)<a href="https://d.docs.live.net/bb5a620476910e43/Documents/Sociologists%20Dojo/A%20Girl%20Walks%20Home%20Alone%20at%20Night%20Review%20.docx#_ftn5" name="_ftnref5" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn5;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[5]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a> is after some form of drug
use: Saeed, after he ingests several lines of cocaine, and Hussein, after taking
heroin. <i>The Girl </i>is the consequences of addiction.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">That addiction rhetoric
is similarly used when looking at the oil industry through a vampiric lens.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In an interview with Rodger Corman for this
film, in talking about shooting locations, Amirpour talked about the city of
Taft, CA near where they shot in Bakersfield. She described the city as a sea
of oil derricks (seen in the film) constantly churning old dinosaur bones up to
the surface.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Whereas humanity has decided
to live off the crude blood of the earth, so does “The Girl” feed off the blood
of humans, sucking us dry until there is nothing left. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is simultaneously a cultural, capitalistic,
and environmental critique that tethers together international Iranian relations,
capitalism, and a lack of environmental conservation. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfhF7OFQnJPR3jNLL1KOwT8gr-xAqNPF6IER0DiY3wu7o0jv3QiOW5cfEjDAE89rRVMqw1mnteO_yMRzOywieNjucj405cvMqGtAmvbr-25VC5UoBKf9L3uD7ZGv4ZYPCu1J8RNKT8wINwN6xxBSvu0qTBFzOVFuBeBfRX2hxrxwhFYZO7Z15WxXdwTpnC/s1500/cbfyBJGxKGbL6Kg5mFBwwlcLjymysR1HXUMXrFVM7Vk.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1500" data-original-width="1052" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfhF7OFQnJPR3jNLL1KOwT8gr-xAqNPF6IER0DiY3wu7o0jv3QiOW5cfEjDAE89rRVMqw1mnteO_yMRzOywieNjucj405cvMqGtAmvbr-25VC5UoBKf9L3uD7ZGv4ZYPCu1J8RNKT8wINwN6xxBSvu0qTBFzOVFuBeBfRX2hxrxwhFYZO7Z15WxXdwTpnC/w280-h400/cbfyBJGxKGbL6Kg5mFBwwlcLjymysR1HXUMXrFVM7Vk.jpg" width="280" /></a></div><br /> <p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">CONCLUSION <o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span></span></b><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">A
Girl Walks Home Alone at Night </span></i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">is a wonderfully shot
masterclass in subversive and anarchic filmmaking. The film’s themes, cinematic
language and cultural impact invite repeat viewing and academic study. It is
the kind of cinema emblematic of the director’s Gen X sensibilities of systemic
deconstruction and self-introspection; leading to Amirpour’s signature storytelling
style: an elective affinity for found families of outsiders. This is something
she explores in her next two films in rich and bloody detail. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></b></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">REFERENCES<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: .5in; text-indent: -.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Brutlag, Brian
2022. “Bodies in Pods: Masculine Domination, Sexuality and Love in <i>The Matrix
</i>Franchise.” In <i>Global Perspectives on the Liminality of the Supernatural
</i>Rebecca Gibson and James M. Vanderveen (eds) p 129-140 New York: Lexington
Books <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: .5in; text-indent: -.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Durkheim, Emile
2001. <i>The Elementary Forms of Religious Life </i>Oxford: Oxford University
Press <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: .5in; text-indent: -.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Goffman, Erving 1959.
<i>The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life </i>New York: Anchor Books <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: .5in; text-indent: -.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Hamad, Ruby 2020. <i>White
Tears/Brown Scars: How White Feminism Betrays Women of Color</i> New York:
Catapult<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: .5in; text-indent: -.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">hooks, bell 2001. <i>All
About Love: New Visions. </i>New York: Harper Collins <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: .5in; text-indent: -.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Hubbard, Shanita
2022. <i>Ride or Die: A Feminist Manifesto for the Well Being of Black Women.</i>
New York: Legacy Lit.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: .5in; text-indent: -.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Kendall, Mikki
2020. <i>Hood Feminism: Notes From the Women A Movement Forgot </i>New York:
Viking Press<i><o:p></o:p></i></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: .5in; text-indent: -.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Wachowski, Lana,
director. 2021. <i>The Matrix Resurrections. </i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>United States.Warner Bros.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: .5in; text-indent: -.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Wachowski, Lana
and Lilly Wachowski, directors. 1999. <i>The Matrix: </i>United States Warner Bros.
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></b></span></p>
<div style="mso-element: footnote-list;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><br clear="all" />
<hr align="left" size="1" width="33%" />
<!--[endif]-->
<div id="ftn1" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<p class="MsoFootnoteText"><a href="https://d.docs.live.net/bb5a620476910e43/Documents/Sociologists%20Dojo/A%20Girl%20Walks%20Home%20Alone%20at%20Night%20Review%20.docx#_ftnref1" name="_ftn1" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn1;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[1]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
There is no direct connection in character, plot or story line between these
films, but the importance and subversion of structures and systems are so
prevalent in each of her first three films that I prefer to link them together.
Additionally, as of this writing, these are the only films Amirpour has
directed. As with the other directors that I have covered in this series, I
will write on any subsequent film she directs henceforth. <o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="ftn2" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<p class="MsoFootnoteText"><a href="https://d.docs.live.net/bb5a620476910e43/Documents/Sociologists%20Dojo/A%20Girl%20Walks%20Home%20Alone%20at%20Night%20Review%20.docx#_ftnref2" name="_ftn2" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn2;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[2]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
Usually the extent of the “extras offered is directly proportional to the
amount one is investing; usually organized by tiers of support <o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="ftn3" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<p class="MsoFootnoteText"><a href="https://d.docs.live.net/bb5a620476910e43/Documents/Sociologists%20Dojo/A%20Girl%20Walks%20Home%20Alone%20at%20Night%20Review%20.docx#_ftnref3" name="_ftn3" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn3;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[3]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
This is what recently happened with the development of <i>The Legend of Vox
Machina </i>and Amazon Prime Fan backers contributed enough to create 3 seasons
of the animated tv show, it was already bought and paid for, therefore Amazon
decided to distribute it for only the cost the distribution. <i><o:p></o:p></i></p>
</div>
<div id="ftn4" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<p class="MsoFootnoteText"><a href="https://d.docs.live.net/bb5a620476910e43/Documents/Sociologists%20Dojo/A%20Girl%20Walks%20Home%20Alone%20at%20Night%20Review%20.docx#_ftnref4" name="_ftn4" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn4;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[4]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a> I
discuss the toxicity of Fan cultures in my essay on Comics Cultural Collateral
Damage linked earlier in the essay above. <o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="ftn5" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<p class="MsoFootnoteText"><a href="https://d.docs.live.net/bb5a620476910e43/Documents/Sociologists%20Dojo/A%20Girl%20Walks%20Home%20Alone%20at%20Night%20Review%20.docx#_ftnref5" name="_ftn5" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn5;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[5]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a> There
is also a link between homelessness and Drug use/ Addiction.<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
</div><br /><p></p>Brian Brutlaghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08099644007940320266noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8714941782515128558.post-13060235433246791692024-01-15T16:10:00.000-08:002024-01-15T16:10:29.739-08:00The Films of Hayao Miyazaki: The Boy and the Heron <p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJ5YUr8Xm76h97myhznkt7m3IvWjUhqSBjabVyVqDKJX6LXKsJC1uuOJuL1CF_oxrPmFKx5gO4hwBhujmx9ipJ3Rqfpin9y1o_IVS6uhhWF5umEAYufyt1c1qNtIPBSFpqbyBDLkTQ9ysPSUuBuOeJ0u0h4Ci4Hkji6EUn-9roq3XGYrCyHNXTw4_V_Qki/s800/love2_0.webp" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="640" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJ5YUr8Xm76h97myhznkt7m3IvWjUhqSBjabVyVqDKJX6LXKsJC1uuOJuL1CF_oxrPmFKx5gO4hwBhujmx9ipJ3Rqfpin9y1o_IVS6uhhWF5umEAYufyt1c1qNtIPBSFpqbyBDLkTQ9ysPSUuBuOeJ0u0h4Ci4Hkji6EUn-9roq3XGYrCyHNXTw4_V_Qki/w320-h400/love2_0.webp" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p style="text-align: center;"><br /></p><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The
twelfth film in my continuing analysis of </span><a href="https://thesociologistsdojo.blogspot.com/2018/12/the-films-of-hayao-miyazaki-introduction.html"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The
Films of Hayao Miyazaki</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"> is the melancholic meditative
masterpiece, </span><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6587046/"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The
Boy and the Heron</span></i></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">. A blistering elevation of the artform,
Miyazaki’s latest visual tapestry is a generationally expansive collaboration
that is contemplative of death, (social and self) destruction and the human dynasty.
While Miyazaki retreads some narratively foundational elements found in </span><a href="https://thesociologistsdojo.blogspot.com/2021/05/the-films-of-hayao-miyazaki-wind-rises.html"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">his
other semi-autobiographical work</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">, he comes at the
material from the opposite direction, making the prepubescent protagonist his
personal proxy; even when most critics see the wearily old Uncle as his artistic
alternate. Regardless of the form of his fictional facsimile, Miyazaki’s
current, and perhaps final film, is a thoughtful treatise on the crisis and
value of legacy, from <b>the</b> greatest animation auteur of the 20<sup>th</sup>
century. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/t5khm-VjEu4" width="320" youtube-src-id="t5khm-VjEu4"></iframe></div><br /><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">PLOT<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span></span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">In
World War II era Japan, Mahito Maki fails to rescue his mother from a hospital
fire after its bombed by the Allies. Once the War concludes, Mahito and his
father move to the country where his father takes a new wife…Mahito’s aunt (his
mother’s sister). Still grieving the loss of his mother, Mahito is stunned into
virtual silence over these events.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But
when a mysterious Heron beckons him into the Underworld to “save his mother.”,
Mahito cannot resist the pull of a (perceived) redemptive adventure. However,
what sets Mahito’s motivations at the beginning of this journey, quickly changes
as the Heron is found to be untrustworthy. Overseen by an enigmatic elderly man,
Mahito ventures deeper into this otherworld that is full of plundering parakeets,
a Firestarter, and soul consuming pelicans. Amidst the journey’s peril, he soon
realizes that the parabolic arc of life is unpredictable; felled by many
difficult and nigh impossible choices. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">HISTORICAL CONTEXT</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"> <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Considering
that Miyazaki just celebrated his 83<sup>rd</sup> birthday on Jan 5<sup>th</sup>,
2024, it is difficult to discuss the historical context of <i>The Boy and the
Heron </i>without also looking at this film as his magnum opus. Granted, given
how many times Miyazaki likes to publicly retire<a href="https://d.docs.live.net/bb5a620476910e43/Documents/Sociologists%20Dojo/The%20Boy%20and%20the%20Heron%20Review%20.docx#_ftn1" name="_ftnref1" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn1;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Aptos; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[1]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>, and then recant those
statements, it is likely that Miyazaki will be working on “something” until his
untimely death.<a href="https://d.docs.live.net/bb5a620476910e43/Documents/Sociologists%20Dojo/The%20Boy%20and%20the%20Heron%20Review%20.docx#_ftn2" name="_ftnref2" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn2;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Aptos; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[2]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
Still, this is most likely his final completed film. Thus, indicative of that,
some retrospective on Ghibli is also required. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Much of the heavy lifting
of that studio reflection was completed by a duology of documentaries: <i>The
Kingdom of Dreams and Madness (2014), </i>cataloging the production of his previous
“last” film: </span><a href="https://thesociologistsdojo.blogspot.com/2021/05/the-films-of-hayao-miyazaki-wind-rises.html"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The
Wind Rises,</span></i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"> </span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">and <i>Never-Ending Man:
Hayao Miyazaki (2018)</i> both of which fail to disentangle Miyazaki from
Ghibli himself, often making them one in the same. It is important to question
then, what is Ghibli without Miyazaki? Serendipitously, Miyazaki answered this
very question, in the first documentary saying: “I know what will happen…It
will end.” In the documentary, this quote is juxtaposed with Miyazaki sitting
on a picnic style park bench outside of Ghibli studios while also admiring a
cat, and looking out at the beauty of the day he is experiencing. There is no
malice, regret, or animosity in that statement. Instead, it has an intimation
of reserved contentment. Miyazaki has never been one to get nostalgically
mournful over the loss of the studio, which shuttered its doors several times in
between Miyazaki’s projects. Even though these periods were eventually labeled
a “hiatus”, at the time of each closure, it was unclear if the studio would
ever continue. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The focal point of
Miyazaki’s prideful ambition was always the ability to create and maintain his
artistic vision over the solvency and success of the company. Unfortunately,
when that vision is threatened, as it was during the production of <i>The Boy
and the Heron, </i>Miyazaki’s choices and the direction of the company opened
himself up to claims of hypocrisy.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center; text-indent: 0.5in;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigKgoXG5jk9w7lDFA-PAi7wsOVZaYg76F1cVmqOHPqTywligIO655TH_xH56_pGhBN4m4YyyFHiUQRxH5TBa0FGE8uBIPoqUHw73ZOwylW6wKozZmqzCrIvtWzMTjkU01M7eMTJNaOf1luZbpozHCUxhwoxYWGMHHrEao0s15cAzbffYJmT9vZinM0qrbc/s740/what-is-criminal-justice-974588-v31-5c115210c9e77c00013ae766.webp" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="455" data-original-width="740" height="246" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigKgoXG5jk9w7lDFA-PAi7wsOVZaYg76F1cVmqOHPqTywligIO655TH_xH56_pGhBN4m4YyyFHiUQRxH5TBa0FGE8uBIPoqUHw73ZOwylW6wKozZmqzCrIvtWzMTjkU01M7eMTJNaOf1luZbpozHCUxhwoxYWGMHHrEao0s15cAzbffYJmT9vZinM0qrbc/w400-h246/what-is-criminal-justice-974588-v31-5c115210c9e77c00013ae766.webp" width="400" /></a></div><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Production</span></i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"> <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Miyazaki
has always been </span><a href="https://www.indiewire.com/features/general/studio-ghibli-rejects-streaming-theatrical-experience-1202182308/"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">a
proponent of the theatrical experience</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">, believing that his, and
all of the Ghibli films should be released and seen in theaters, or exclusively
released on high quality physical media for home viewing in the best possible
format.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This pretentious position won him
(and Ghibli) the praise of film geeks, and scholars as one of the last bastions
of cinematic artistry. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>To be clear, irrespective
of the dramatic discourse surrounding this subject, <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>there is </span><a href="https://www.pcmag.com/opinions/6-reasons-you-should-ditch-netflix-streaming"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">sufficiently
well documented evidence</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"> that when you have physical media,
the quality of the video is better (lack of compression and a non-reliance on
Internet speed) and you actually physically own a copy of the film; unlike with
streaming where you only pay for access ( Arditi 2021, 2023). <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Additionally,
Miyazaki has never been interested in expanding the Ghibli brand; including merchandising
nor the outright licensing of Ghibli characters to inundate the market for the
purposes of profit. This was what had always separated Ghibli from what some
would call their western equivalent in Disney. Disney was the purveyor of the maximalist
ubiquity of a profit driven monoculture that they themselves control; and
Ghibli was a minimalist, at cost artisan studio that was run more like a
nonprofit; with most of its revenue going back into the company for future
projects.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Unfortunately, in this capitalist
system, the Ghibli model was only sustainable if budgets were kept low, and
deadlines were met. The moment that one or both conditions changed, then their artistic
morality would be in danger of being compromised. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Miyazaki first began
working on what would eventually become <i>The Boy and the Heron</i> in 2016
before the film was officially greenlit. A year later, when the project was
announced, the loose description was that it was going to be a adaptation of
the book “</span><a href="https://variety.com/2022/film/news/studio-ghibli-hayao-miyazaki-how-do-you-live-new-film-1235459163/"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">How
do you Live?”</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"> The only other information given to the
public was a devastating admission of motivation by Miyazaki, stating that the film
was being made for his grandson because: </span><a href="https://www.indiewire.com/features/general/hayao-miyazaki-comes-out-retirement-explained-1201890713/"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“Grandpa
is going into the next world soon, but he’s leaving behind this film.”</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"> And
everyone wept. Beyond these tidbits, little was known about the film for years.
Soon, those close to Miyazaki and others at Ghibli were worried the film was
never going to be finished. This is because, in the intervening years, Miyazaki
was grieving the death of fellow legendary animation director, Isao Takahata
whom he had used as a model for Grand Uncle in his new film, and due to
Miyazaki’s aging, his process was becoming more meticulously slow. Whereas
production on previous Miyazaki films would yield 7-10 minutes of finished film
per month, on <i>The Boy and the Heron</i>, Miyazaki was averaging 1 minute per
month; only completing about 15% of the final film by winter 2019.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The
Odyssean production eventually became so protracted that its budget began to balloon
to the point that it set the record for </span><a href="https://www.cbr.com/the-boy-and-the-heron-most-expensive-japanese-film/"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">the
most expensive film Japan has ever created</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">, and threatened
the viability of the studio. Therefore, Miyazaki and famed Ghibli producer and
collaborator, Toshiro Suzuki were at a crossroads. Do they risk not finishing
the film that may very well be Miyazaki’s last? Or, do they </span><a href="https://gkids.com/2019/10/17/hbo-max-acquires-us-streaming-rights-to-studio-ghibli-films/"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">reluctantly
open another revenue stream</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"> (pun intended) that they were </span><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/27/movies/studio-ghibli-hbo-max.html"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">previously
recalcitrant to on morally artistic grounds</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">? Eventually, Suzuki
and Ghibli capitulated to a streaming deal with (then named) HBOMAX </span><a href="https://www.polygon.com/2017/6/1/15723932/studio-ghibli-theme-park"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">and
began the development of a Ghibli theme park</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"> in 2017. Both
decisions were fueled by a desire to finish this most recent project.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The drastic
reversal of the HBOMAX deal in 2020 after doubling down on their original position
a scant year prior, caused Miyazaki, Suzuki and Ghibli to be exposed to public
blowback. A company that often prides itself as being principled over profit was
now open to attacks of character, and even greater comparisons to Disney.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Yet, in the wake of this decision, none of
that came to pass. Why? Because consumers were gaining greater access to a
thing that they love (and perhaps feel entitled to), profit was being made for Warner
Media (parent company of HBOMAX now just MAX) in the form of new subscribers,
and Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli got money to put back into current and future projects.
Cynically, a common response from many people to the understanding that there
is no ethical consumption under capitalism is that there should be no morality
or ethics in the pursuit of profit.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>These are not the same.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Understanding
the unethical process of an economic system does not imply a tacit and blanket
support for immoral practices in the accumulation of wealth; especially around
labor (Just look at 2023’s “Hot Labor Summer”). Additionally, recognition of an
individual’s participation in the unethical systems as a necessary requirement
for survival does not absolve them from attempting to minimize the amount or type
of participation in which they engage. By accepting this streaming deal, Ghibli
is not slouching toward (becoming) Disney. Suzuki had to (basically) trick
Miyazaki into agreeing to it and </span><a href="https://www.indiewire.com/features/general/hayao-miyazaki-streaming-services-studio-ghibli-1202216940/"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">played
on his ignorance</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"> in order to succeed. Also, this decision
was not taken lightly as it often is with the nebulous greed of Western
Corporate Executives. It was a decision based on a desire to complete a project
and expand the distribution of already made films. Therefore, the story of how
Ghibli films went to streaming illustrates that when capitalism forces you into
“a Devil’s Bargain” of compromised morality, do so for a benevolent reason
without giving more of yourself than is necessary. With funding secured, the next
step for the production team was to increase the pace of production.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">To speed up production,
Miyazaki began to embrace a more traditional animation director role. Suzuki
had convinced him to take on a more supervisory position on the production in its
later stages. To make Miyazaki more comfortable with this transition, Suzuki
brought in former Ghibli animators who themselves have gone on to become well-known
animation directors in Japan.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The most
famous was Takashi Honda of Neon Genesis Evangelion and Mobile Suit Gundam
fame, who took over storyboards for some of the film’s major sequences. While
this is common in animation, this approach has also been used in live action. If
an aging director wants to make a film, as a part of the deal, major studios
may require an additional director to be on set in case the director dies or is
incapacitated while filming. Famously, Paul Thomas Anderson was hired to be “a
backup director” for Robert Altman on <i>A Prairie Home Companion</i>, while
Coppola, Lucas and Spielberg, integral to the creation of Akira Kurosawa’s
final two </span><a href="https://thesociologistsdojo.blogspot.com/2021/06/the-chambara-films-of-akira-kurosawa.html"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Chambara</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">
Films: </span><a href="https://thesociologistsdojo.blogspot.com/2022/05/the-chambara-films-of-akira-kurosawa.html"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Kagemusha</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">
and </span><a href="https://thesociologistsdojo.blogspot.com/2022/06/the-chambara-films-of-akira-kurosawa-ran.html"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Ran</span></a><span class="MsoHyperlink"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">;</span></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"> gave producers comfort
by also being on set. However, unlike other directors, Miyazaki had the
privilege of former workers coming back to help him finish (what could be) his
final film. This was a chance for many of these animators to give back to the
master on which they cut their teeth.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As
Calligrapher Tamio Yoshida once said, “To Surpass the Master, Repays the Debt.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">As of this writing, the
dozenth film in Miyazaki’s oeuvre is the most successful film in Japan and topped
the US box office in its first week of release; making a current total of $149
Million in international and domestic box office receipts.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This was after a minimal to nearly nonexistent
marketing campaign. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The reason being that
the cultural capital of Studio Ghibli elevated by the potential of it being
Miyazaki’s last, basically sells the film. Rather than a blitzkrieg of ads, Suzuki
simply released a single vague white poster. On the poster, was a picture of a
Heron drawn in the style of calligraphy with the name of the film above it. He
then took the money he would have spent on marketing and put it back into the
film. This confident strategy even led the sales of the book “How Do I live?”
to increase, as people were searching for clues about the film’s plot by
reading it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This became </span><a href="https://variety.com/2023/film/news/miyazaki-hayao-final-film-how-do-you-live-secrecy-1235632765/"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">such
an issue that Suzuki had the make a statement</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"> to the press that
the association between the film and the book was minimal.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Furthermore, the film has also been making
the festival circuit and picking up pending award nominations, including from
the Annie Awards and BAFTAs; to winning awards outright from Major US regional
Critics associations including New York and Chicago. The film is expected to at
least get nominated for Best Animated Feature at the 2024 Oscars, but also
could be in contention for Best Film, Best Foreign Language Film, Best Director,
and Best Score for longtime collaborator Joe Hisaishi beautiful orchestral melody.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i><o:p></o:p></i></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTiLgir4kAlTSAoHZ2IeV2jjKLVcTvJir0vjat2tpOEERdmegAki6Z8BOUAXiXQ-l24sRgY_RntLOz-SuXeMcOsxHuNu-8RH2M6x1hBX2u7oVXdFOMJ9cIleE2LWu0rCInmqJ8tqnNleHMOsdRZSbY9cTGh_tctAfCEyC_V9JdthCv4laUnvlUvo7YnFA9/s311/nausicaa-578x801.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="311" data-original-width="220" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTiLgir4kAlTSAoHZ2IeV2jjKLVcTvJir0vjat2tpOEERdmegAki6Z8BOUAXiXQ-l24sRgY_RntLOz-SuXeMcOsxHuNu-8RH2M6x1hBX2u7oVXdFOMJ9cIleE2LWu0rCInmqJ8tqnNleHMOsdRZSbY9cTGh_tctAfCEyC_V9JdthCv4laUnvlUvo7YnFA9/w283-h400/nausicaa-578x801.jpg" width="283" /></a></div><br /><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">SOCIAL ANALYSIS <o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>As
with many directors, Miyazaki’s work always comes back to a lot of the same central
themes across his filmography, such as: </span><a href="https://thesociologistsdojo.blogspot.com/2020/10/the-films-of-hayao-miyazaki-princess.html"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Feminism</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">,
</span><a href="https://thesociologistsdojo.blogspot.com/2019/12/the-films-of-hayao-miyazaki-nausicaa-of.html"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Environmentalism</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">,
</span><a href="https://thesociologistsdojo.blogspot.com/2021/03/the-films-of-hayao-miyazaki-howls.html"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Anti-War</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">
massaging, and </span><a href="https://thesociologistsdojo.blogspot.com/2020/11/the-films-of-hayao-miyazaki-spirited.html"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Work
and Identity</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">. With <i>The Boy and The Heron,</i>
Miyazaki additionally grapples with loss, legacy and Masculinity as if he is retrospectively
contemplating the value of his own existence, his place in culture through this
film.<a href="https://d.docs.live.net/bb5a620476910e43/Documents/Sociologists%20Dojo/The%20Boy%20and%20the%20Heron%20Review%20.docx#_ftn3" name="_ftnref3" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn3;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Aptos; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[3]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a><i> <o:p></o:p></i></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><i>Loss,
Death, and Grief<o:p></o:p></i></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The beginning of <i>The
Boy and the Heron, </i>opens like a nightmare. Mahito is awoken by the firebombing
of the hospital where his mother is a patient. The sequence of him running to
help put out the flames is purposefully drawn with few clear lines, blurring
the images of the fire, the crowd, and Mahito, to give the audience the sense
of discombobulated panic someone feels when they experience a trauma inducing
event. This is something that will stick with Mahito. He will internalize these
events as failure, no matter how vain his efforts. During this sequence,
Miyazaki includes a shot of Mahito going back to his house to get “properly”
dressed. This is to emphasize both the banality of tragedy, that even though
your life is falling apart, you still have to put on clothes (or eat, or go to work,
care for children etc.) and the way that those moments stick with you. Mahito
will always wonder, regardless of its rationality or truth, if he had not taken
the extra time to put on his pants, would he have been able to save his mother?
Of course, he couldn’t, but our brains, especially when we are young, tend to
be bullies, convincing us of heroic delusions of grandeur.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The loss of his mother is
the driving motivational force for Mahito throughout the film. The Heron taunts
Mahito using the lure of saving his mother, to get him to follow The Heron into
the Underworld. Even when the ruse is revealed, Mahito elects to find his
Stepmother, herself mysteriously detained, making her into his birth mother’s
proxy. If he can save her, then, in his own eyes, he will be redeemed for not
being able to save his first mother at the hospital. The guilt will be
assuaged.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This belief drives Mahito.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Travis Herchi’s (1969)
social bond theory<a href="https://d.docs.live.net/bb5a620476910e43/Documents/Sociologists%20Dojo/The%20Boy%20and%20the%20Heron%20Review%20.docx#_ftn4" name="_ftnref4" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn4;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Aptos; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[4]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
discusses that the belief in social laws, and the legitimacy of their
enforcement, is an essential mechanism for the continued reproduction of the
current social order. Durkheim (2001) focuses on the importance of religious
belief; stating that belief itself needs people in order to exist.
Additionally, many of us incorrectly identify the source for feelings of
elation and spiritual connection as being located in a higher power, or a
supreme being, whereas it is more likely generated by various social groups.
Durkheim (2001) calls this phenomenon “collective effervescence through
emotional contagion.” This is the process by which individuals within a small
group setting become collectively influenced by the emotions and moods of the
people around them. For some, this collective effervescence makes them feel
better, transforming their dower mood into one that is more delightful. With
others, their mood can be so powerfully negative, that it can act like a virus sapping
the joy from everyone around them. This is the state of Mahito at the beginning
of the film, infecting others with his rage and pain, getting into fights and
inflicting self-harm. Yet, Durkheim (2001) also points out that while belief is
important to maintain/retain the power of religion and motivate people into
social action the way it does Mahito; the content of that belief is rather
moot. It doesn’t matter what you believe, what matters is <b>that </b>you
believe.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The faith that is generated is
not merely an individual thing, it is based upon our learning, and the sharing
of experiences within society. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Mahito’s faith is in his
determination to save his mother, believing he can do it himself. Nevertheless,
it is the people around him, and his own family, that support him, build him
up, and help him on his journey that allows him to be successful.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Durkheim (2001) says plainly that we create
stories about Gods. We define what is sacred, and build communities around the
things that we believe, and have faith in. It is us, the group, that has power;
not anything beyond that. One of the main functions of religion as a social institution
is that it provides us with answers about mortality (What will happen when we
die?) and morality (<b><u>How Should We Live</u></b>?). Rather than these answers
be handed to him, Mahito reads a book, and goes on a spiritual adventure rife
with metaphors about what it is like to live, have generational legacy, and love.
He is far more adult at the end of the film than he is at the beginning; more
ready to live the life in front of him, with a greater sense of purpose and focus.
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Subcultures as Cults <o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Paradoxically, even those
of us that do not hold religious beliefs, nor faith in anything spiritual, tend
to satisfy the same organizational and institutional needs through our
participation in social groups. For some, this might be the group you have a
weekly pick-up basketball game with, or a community theater troupe. But in the
context of Miyazaki, the anime fan subculture is the best example.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Many social group subcultures take on and
embody various aspects of religion. They create sacred text and deify
individuals as their gods, they have strict hierarchical rules and opinions
that are designed to be exclusionary and have unique dress codes. All these
aspects of religion are satisfied by the anime fan subculture. Whatever show or
film someone is into, becomes the sacred text, its creator is exalted and
venerated as a paragon, communities validate and invalidate opinions as a way
to justify the inclusion and exclusion of members and non-members to their
group (Think about the “Umm actually…” section of fandoms) and cosplaying becomes
the unique dress code. The anime fan subculture has religious overtones, but
because it does not have access to power to legitimate its identity within the
already establish social structure; they operate more like a cult…as all
fandoms do. The irony of this is when faced with his own deification and the
religious devotion with which both fans and animator prostrate at his feet,
Miyazaki rejected them; iconically stating that “Anime was a mistake. It’s
nothing but Trash.” What do we mere mortals do when our manufactured gods
reject us so completely?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg82hnwwogc_xaMepHy8qRQh8nIztsIVgL29UzN6ZjeLiHYfHiSRmFziQ0i1vErGbXO-K4qvZwTR8_OIQsqEJ4cMvJDOw18PW9A71fNAzdjQcI_GzN6t2mnJBK67GCPUlLf_JsHHYat9aYyA4kVELWHlReciOICXUlDQBO3p_Arg6iHdY-NyLHR4hq3P_Vt/s900/th%20(1).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="461" data-original-width="900" height="205" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg82hnwwogc_xaMepHy8qRQh8nIztsIVgL29UzN6ZjeLiHYfHiSRmFziQ0i1vErGbXO-K4qvZwTR8_OIQsqEJ4cMvJDOw18PW9A71fNAzdjQcI_GzN6t2mnJBK67GCPUlLf_JsHHYat9aYyA4kVELWHlReciOICXUlDQBO3p_Arg6iHdY-NyLHR4hq3P_Vt/w400-h205/th%20(1).jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The Precarity of Birth
and Death: WaraWara and the Pelicans </span></i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Weber (1956) defines
spirits as “neither soul, demon or god, but something indeterminate, material
yet invisible, nonpersonal and yet somehow endowed with volition.” (3) Western
cultures tend to apply and imbue that sense of volition from an individual
perspective. Western religions believe that an individual soul is a unique
personality that exists prior to any kind of social molding through the society
that they are born into. Contradictorily, Eastern cultures often see this sense
of volition as connected to groups and individuals before them. There is a
greater valuation of ancestry among Eastern cultures that typically manifests
itself through the concept of filial piety. This is the idea that individual
actions reflect on the entire family; currently, and throughout generations.
Therefore, shame and glory are very much a collectivist concept in Eastern
societies rather than an individual one. These juxtaposed ideas of spirits are
embodied in the film by the entanglement of the WaraWara, and the Pelicans. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">As Mahito enters the
spirit world he encounters a younger version of one of his old maids, Kiriko.
She tells him that most of the people in this place are dead; except for the
WaraWara, primordial souls that are floating to the real world to be born. As
the ritual commences and the WaraWara begin to ascend into their “birth” in the
real world, a flock of pelicans swoop in and begins to devour the WaraWara
whole. Mahito, Kiriko and Lady Hemi succeed in igniting the pelicans and
driving the rest away. Later, when confronting one of the pelicans that are
dying, Mahito asks why they were eating souls of those yet to be (re)born? The
pelican simply stated that they were brought there by The Creator for that very
purpose. Since Mahito’s raging against death and therefore fixated on the
saving/reviving of his mother in this moment, he does not understand the
inextricable link between life and death that the WaraWara and the pelicans
represent.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The symbiosis of the
WaraWara and the Pelicans moves beyond just a simple understanding of an
environmental sense of “balance” The circle of life. Miyazaki leaves the ritual
vague enough that for it to be used as a narrative allegory for a variety of
social issues such as overpopulation, birth control, and the systemization of
bureaucratized death.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If the tiny chibi-like WaraWara are souls in
the spirit world, waiting to be (re)born, the pelicans are necessary to curb
the very real threat to overpopulation. Ostensibly, the pelicans act as a
literal form of birth control…controlling new souls from being born into the
real world for the purpose of resource management. What Mahito fails to see
until his actual conversation with a pelican is that they are a part of an
integrated system attempts to organize the process of life, death, and
rebirth.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Consider the bureaucracy of
death, the mechanisms, processes, and profit that is made off death. From
granting the job security of coroners, to grief counselors and morticians,
death is a lucrative business (everyone dies, so there always a demand for jobs
that eliminate the endless surplus of the dead). It is the order and
monetization of the end of life. In Miyazaki’s world, the pelicans are just janitors.
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As
indicated in previous films, Miyazaki is also acutely aware of the earth’s
finite resources, and the earth’s ability to sustain a certain amount of people
before its depletion and eventual destruction. Yet, consistently, our
enculturated and internalized desires for children rarely consider the
environment. This is because the cultural value of the next generation is based
on ideals of personal and familial legacy and not the longevity of the planet.
For many, regardless of culture or context, having children is the quickest and
easiest way to achieve validation and a sense of purpose; the satisfaction of
which supersedes our valuation of earth’s sustainability. Additionally, because
we do not have equal distribution of agricultural assets, wealthy and more
powerful countries obtain and consume more than their fair share of resources. </span><a href="https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/american-consumption-habits/"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The
United States only accounts for less than 5% of Global population but consumes
20-30% of all global resources while producing 50% of all global waste. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Therefore, the wealth and status of a country
also determines their level of unequal distribution of resources, which in turn
creates a culture around <b>that amount </b>of resource consumption cultivating
a since of entitlement to that level of access. Cultural norms, rituals and
interactions are based around this pattern of unsustainable practices, thereby
making overconsumption seem necessary. Under these conditions, wealthier,
environmentally rich countries (rich in access, not geography) have an easier
life than those that don’t, in part because of their higher resource
consumption, and because their wealth shields them from the effects of
environmental destruction/depletion better than poorer (usually non-white)
countries. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center; text-indent: 0.5in;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHiVfIUFUppL5S9AnQYmYpTgz5G95TSRC3XUW6PZpOCW0SRp-n0SBdZ-VJCQJ84eeHAysnVXyud8WdC_hp_YNsxfFIGNlw3eckoY0g7yHbouSs2dmelKFys_U5mzon0yy0A7YW7kRbWZWaYVF28Eb_HfhZvMNS6nBnAAA7BeBvevqVdx2kPJAPhjrW25Bd/s1920/hinumg7e8udw9fzomqs0.webp" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1038" data-original-width="1920" height="216" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHiVfIUFUppL5S9AnQYmYpTgz5G95TSRC3XUW6PZpOCW0SRp-n0SBdZ-VJCQJ84eeHAysnVXyud8WdC_hp_YNsxfFIGNlw3eckoY0g7yHbouSs2dmelKFys_U5mzon0yy0A7YW7kRbWZWaYVF28Eb_HfhZvMNS6nBnAAA7BeBvevqVdx2kPJAPhjrW25Bd/w400-h216/hinumg7e8udw9fzomqs0.webp" width="400" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Masculinity and a Sense of Colonialism</span></i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The correlation
between masculinity and capitalism has been well documented. Historically, in
many western societies this relationship is interdependent. The extent to which
men can achieve and amass power is directly caused by the expansion of
capitalism. Similarly, economic power is then perceived as a masculine trait causing
sexist laws, rules, and regulations to be enacted, ultimately defining capitalist
economic success as being exclusively achievable by men. The perfect progeny of
this unholy union is colonialism.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Colonialism
can be defined as the process by which an indigenous people are conquered
(usually by a foreign invading force) followed by the creation of an
organization controlled by members of the conquering polity and the
establishment of rule over the conquered territory and population (Steinmetz
2014).<a href="https://d.docs.live.net/bb5a620476910e43/Documents/Sociologists%20Dojo/The%20Boy%20and%20the%20Heron%20Review%20.docx#_ftn5" name="_ftnref5" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn5;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Aptos; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[5]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a> Colonialism is the
cancerous consumptive crawl of capitalism coupled with the aggressive menagerie
of masculinity with a serving of white supremacy. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The interlocking
mechanisms of race, class and gender that make colonialism possible also allow
it to be polymorphic. The force of colonialism was at first the force of violence,
when that was met with resistance, the process pivoted, reinvented itself to
lean heavier on its capitalist roots and its implication of progress. As
colonialism masks itself as advanced technology, many native societies do not
see how culture comes with it. Therefore, the resulting cultural diffusion
through the process of global trade, and the expansion of the global economy is
not equal. Instead, this is a subtle form of cultural imperialism.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Mary Fraser (2023), like
George Romero before her, analogizes white male colonialist global capitalism as
being cannibalistic. Capitalism is an ouroboros, people can not generate enough
through paid work to support themselves and under capitalism everyone is a
resource that gets used. When societies historically restrict access to
economic participation due to sexist racist and ableist bigotry, the eventual
granting of that access can seem like liberation for a time…because participation
in capitalism is a necessity for survival. But that access, framed as liberty,
masks the ritualized objectification of being economically oppressed. Therefore,
part of the fight for justice, whether for racial, gender, sexual, or disabled freedom
is fighting for their right to be exploited under capitalism. This is not the
type of hegemony that fosters revolution, it is the type of hegemony that eventually
leads to the erosion of facts, science, reason, and civility as what befalls The
Parakeet King and his Monarchy in the film. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Late in the film,
Mahito’s search for his aunt/stepmom leads him to uncover an underground
society of Parakeets. Like the Pelican’s, they were originally brought to this
world by his Grand Uncle, The Creator, as a patch work solution to avert a
potential catastrophe. Since then, the Parakeets have developed into humanoid
forms, created a structured dictatorial political and social order, and gained
a penchant for the taste of human flesh, attempting to eat Mahito and Lady Hemi
when they encountered them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is also
the actions of The Parakeet King, his inept staking of the blocks, that
ultimately causes The Creator’s world to crumble. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The hubris of The
Parakeet King can be allegorical to Western Societies relationship with God. History
has given us a plethora of examples of politically powerful men playing God.
Whether that be the judgement and execution of life and death sentences, the
more mundane <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>erection of city skylines, cathedrals, and
statues, to the more complicated manufactured imbroglio between religion and
capitalism, all point to a desired deification of humanity…(mostly) by and for
men. Similarly, The Parakeet King exhibits many masculine traits, chief among
them being self-determination to the point of an over-inflated sense of
self-importance. This is coupled with a willingness to use violence as a
mechanism of validation that becomes inevitably virulent; dooming the world to
justify their own existence.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The Parakeet King is only
Miyazaki’s latest character to be a cautionary tale for the dangers of white
masculine capitalist colonialism. From the Count of Cagliostro to No Face in
the Bathhouse, Miyazaki has always been critical of capitalism.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Most of his characters that support
capitalism either are destroyed, disillusioned or die, while his protagonists embrace
the hospitality of socialism and emotional growth. The glaringly obvious
exception to this statement is Kiki, of </span><a href="https://thesociologistsdojo.blogspot.com/2020/08/the-films-of-hayao-miyazaki-kikis.html"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Kiki’s
Delivery Service</span></i></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">, who is both an entrepreneur (saw a hole
in the market that she could fill) and a small business owner. However, her predilection
for profit mirrors that of Miyazaki and Ghibli themselves. For Kiki, profit is
not an ethos, it is the means of subsistence and a mechanism for creative
expression. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZIN5IWj06gzlNWlL_FzWxkVyp38CBG65aYeTDhbNGK75-6216WCAN84T2Ch1ydxlZdLc6hfJCEwTfv_TJkOctXPlrbK0wfm346zEbqlRXplm8P7bpIE1X4C-AsCDwea9O7iVac-PV7jp9vdSt1duKgW4gh-Xbf4jN-K-LoIVGJA9CNqKqA2yhY_Uch8ML/s958/Untitled-800x400.webp" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="537" data-original-width="958" height="224" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZIN5IWj06gzlNWlL_FzWxkVyp38CBG65aYeTDhbNGK75-6216WCAN84T2Ch1ydxlZdLc6hfJCEwTfv_TJkOctXPlrbK0wfm346zEbqlRXplm8P7bpIE1X4C-AsCDwea9O7iVac-PV7jp9vdSt1duKgW4gh-Xbf4jN-K-LoIVGJA9CNqKqA2yhY_Uch8ML/w400-h224/Untitled-800x400.webp" width="400" /></a></div><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><br /></span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Legacy</span></i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The enmity we have with
death correlates with our enculturated validation of masculinity and the
development of patriarchy to heavily weight the importance of legacy. Our
valuing of self-worth primarily through the prism of longevity, ostensibly
seeking immortality, has placed an overabundant focus on reproduction. For
many, sex and reproduction are the cheapest and easiest way to impact the world
through your genealogy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We have used the
creation of children to get laws passed, encapsulate ideas about gender, and to
maintain social control; all through subtle or direct threats to personal
legacy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">In this context, <i>The
Boy and the Heron </i>forces us to grapple with the passing of generations,
what is accepted, what is left behind, and what is changed. In the
conversations between Mahito and his Grand Uncle, Miyazaki challenges the
audience to reconcile our culturally incongruous ideas about legacy by posing
two questions: What is the responsibility one generation has to the next? and What
happens when the next generation is resentful and does not want to continue the
previous generation’s work, allowing it to die?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The first question and conversation reveal,
much like the context suggests above, that the existence of new or next
generations are not about them at all; instead, it is about the people they are
born to. New generations are a motivating force for life and society to exist.
They maintain the social order by providing personal investment and stakes in their
parent’s generation that needs a reason to keep living and working regardless
of its diminished sense of fulfilment. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The second question and conversation
deconstruct the social and cultural “guard rails” that our society employs to
maintain the status quo. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One of the
fundamental generational “guard rails” is the process of socialization; the
social learning of rules, regulations, norms, and values of our society from
one generation to another. Embedded in these rules, regulations, norms, and
values are generational messages about culture that, much like the children
themselves, get reproduced.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This not
only is a maintenance of the social order, but a solidification of generational
legacy. This normalization manifests itself in the form of logical fallacies
(“That’s How it’s always been done.”) and results in an inherited earth that is
on the brink of collapse (climate change, War, Genocide, and crumbling social
Institutions).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Therefore, it is obvious
that the children of today’s adults would be resentful because of the generational
debt they are being saddled with. However, even as Mahito rejects his Grand
Uncle’s pleas, leaving the world that was created to be demolished, as Mahito leaves,
he still picks up some of the pieces to build something himself. In this,
Miyazaki illustrates that even if there is a generational blight through the
rejection of norms, the next generation is still going to have to build
something out of the rubble.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVwtdAedWWFLKGI8_bZWhQkwIwvdyj1Vh5yJJ1Z8Qflw7fgJ5SWz7XSPabCKkcnwoWG7EpwibNEgDhsQaWjWXzyWJON7hwrBrW5ubqBE_e8l7YdoZQXQQpJ-K7abIWEu7-grMlOVmNTxzkh6-WfhiHRRPBdKSidUlEah91HU1OQ7hA4qYaqt9nFOTNytu4/s1920/what-is-criminal-justice-974588-v31-5c115210c9e77c00013ae766.webp" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1442" data-original-width="1920" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVwtdAedWWFLKGI8_bZWhQkwIwvdyj1Vh5yJJ1Z8Qflw7fgJ5SWz7XSPabCKkcnwoWG7EpwibNEgDhsQaWjWXzyWJON7hwrBrW5ubqBE_e8l7YdoZQXQQpJ-K7abIWEu7-grMlOVmNTxzkh6-WfhiHRRPBdKSidUlEah91HU1OQ7hA4qYaqt9nFOTNytu4/w400-h300/what-is-criminal-justice-974588-v31-5c115210c9e77c00013ae766.webp" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">CONCLUSION<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span></span></b><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The
Boy and the Heron </span></i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">is a masterpiece. While this descriptor is
both common and apt when writing about any Miyazaki film, the way this film
encapsulates, themes, art styles, character tropes of his other previous films,
as well as amalgamating the legacy of Ghibli animators by having former
employees come back to help finish the project, this film is the perfect
representation of Miyazaki and a distillation of his impact on animation. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I first began this series when this film was
announced in 2018. Regardless of how many times he has attempted to retire,
this is the first time I’ve felt that this could be his final film. If this is
the last film of Miyazaki, and the end of Studio Ghibli itself, it is the
highest of notes that crescendos into perpetual oblivion.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">REFERENCES<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; text-indent: -.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Arditi,
David 2021. <i>Streaming Culture: Subscription Platforms and the Unending
Consumption of Culture</i><b> </b>United Kingdom: Emerald Publishing <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; text-indent: -.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">_____2023.
<i>Digital Feudalism: Creators Credit, Consumption and Capitalism </i>United
Kingdom: Emerald Publishing <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; text-indent: -.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Durkheim,
Emile <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>2001. <i>The Elementary Forms of
Religious Life </i>New York: Oxford University Press.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; text-indent: -.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Fraser,
Nancy<b> </b>2023. <i>Cannibal Capitalism: How our System is Devouring
Democracy, Care, and the Planet – and What We Can Do About It. </i>New York:
Verso Books <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; text-indent: -.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Hirschi,
Travis. 1969. Causes of delinquency. Berkeley: University of California Press<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; text-indent: -.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Steinmetz,
George 2014. “The Sociology of Empires, Colonies, and Postcolonialism.” In Annual
Review of Sociology 40, pp77-103. Retrieved on 1/10/2024 Retrieved a</span>t <a href="https://www.annualreviews.org/doi/10.1146/annurev-soc-071913-043131">https://www.annualreviews.org/doi/10.1146/annurev-soc-071913-043131</a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; text-indent: -.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Weber,
Max 1956. <i>The Sociology of Religion </i>Boston: Beacon Press.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<div style="mso-element: footnote-list;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><br clear="all" />
<hr align="left" size="1" width="33%" />
<!--[endif]-->
<div id="ftn1" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<p class="MsoFootnoteText"><a href="https://d.docs.live.net/bb5a620476910e43/Documents/Sociologists%20Dojo/The%20Boy%20and%20the%20Heron%20Review%20.docx#_ftnref1" name="_ftn1" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn1;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Aptos",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Aptos; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[1]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
For the record, I think this is ingenious process of stress reduction. It seems
that Miyazaki understood that if he “retires” he does not have pressure to
answer questions about “his next film” or “what he is working on now” until he
is ready to publicly announce his next project.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span><o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="ftn2" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<p class="MsoFootnoteText"><a href="https://d.docs.live.net/bb5a620476910e43/Documents/Sociologists%20Dojo/The%20Boy%20and%20the%20Heron%20Review%20.docx#_ftnref2" name="_ftn2" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn2;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Aptos",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Aptos; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[2]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
The death of an artist of Miyazaki’s magnitude and caliber is such a loss it
will always seem inappropriate at any age.<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="ftn3" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<p class="MsoFootnoteText"><a href="https://d.docs.live.net/bb5a620476910e43/Documents/Sociologists%20Dojo/The%20Boy%20and%20the%20Heron%20Review%20.docx#_ftnref3" name="_ftn3" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn3;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Aptos",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Aptos; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[3]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
Ironically, I do not thing that Miyazaki really thinks about his place in
history of culture, outside of the stories that he tells. I truly believe that
he just wants to be able to translate what is in his head rendering it into a two-dimensional
animated moving image <o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="ftn4" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<p class="MsoFootnoteText"><a href="https://d.docs.live.net/bb5a620476910e43/Documents/Sociologists%20Dojo/The%20Boy%20and%20the%20Heron%20Review%20.docx#_ftnref4" name="_ftn4" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn4;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Aptos",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Aptos; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[4]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a> <a href="https://www.sagepub.com/sites/default/files/upm-binaries/36812_5.pdf">https://www.sagepub.com/sites/default/files/upm-binaries/36812_5.pdf</a>
<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="ftn5" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<p class="MsoFootnoteText"><a name="_Hlk156225994"></a><a href="https://d.docs.live.net/bb5a620476910e43/Documents/Sociologists%20Dojo/The%20Boy%20and%20the%20Heron%20Review%20.docx#_ftnref5" name="_ftn5" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn5;" title=""><span style="mso-bookmark: _Hlk156225994;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Aptos",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Aptos; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[5]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></span></a><span style="mso-bookmark: _Hlk156225994;"> </span><a href="https://www.annualreviews.org/doi/10.1146/annurev-soc-071913-043131"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Hlk156225994;">https://www.annualreviews.org/doi/10.1146/annurev-soc-071913-043131</span></a><span style="mso-bookmark: _Hlk156225994;"></span> <o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
</div><br /><p></p>Brian Brutlaghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08099644007940320266noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8714941782515128558.post-70431884911581889072023-12-08T12:03:00.000-08:002023-12-08T12:03:31.036-08:00The Dojo's Top Ten Films that Encapsulate 2023<p style="text-align: center;"> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBfl2ko12rPZTw7qIGW6KUMOXRFh7u-4UtxrZMPiK3B-9SVYmXgi5bEQR6MbNkxd4Qwy1Q_I5L3T4WSPg2XTw6CSuz-8qA6zpawSqP9-Zi5Y5ZE_0egh18vWKP1CXhRIbayd5CiHZGhtWNGG5BGlZvp78lQSvH_BDgvaaIgiUOsgKCQUnb_3gIIJSQF0tH/s301/20130113-141718.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="167" data-original-width="301" height="222" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBfl2ko12rPZTw7qIGW6KUMOXRFh7u-4UtxrZMPiK3B-9SVYmXgi5bEQR6MbNkxd4Qwy1Q_I5L3T4WSPg2XTw6CSuz-8qA6zpawSqP9-Zi5Y5ZE_0egh18vWKP1CXhRIbayd5CiHZGhtWNGG5BGlZvp78lQSvH_BDgvaaIgiUOsgKCQUnb_3gIIJSQF0tH/w400-h222/20130113-141718.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p><br /></p><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">INTRODUCTION<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>As
another year ends, it is time for The Sociologist’s Dojo to rattle off the top
ten Sociological films of the year. </span><a href="https://thesociologistsdojo.blogspot.com/2022/12/the-dojos-top-ten-films-that.html"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">As
with the last three years</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">, I’ve decided to once again, give
readers a list of 10 events of the year that can be encapsulated in film. Understand
that this is not an exhaustive list of events, nor even the ones that are “The
Most Sociological.” <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Instead, this is to
provide an accounting of some of the noteworthy happenings of 2023 and the
films that epitomize their essence; either directly or tangentially. With each
event, I will provide a brief explanation, followed by how the film(s) relate
to each incident. This list is obviously limited by personal bias, the films I
have seen, and my own specialties in Sociology. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>2023
has been another year of a mixed bag of social events, that have provided
fleeting moments of hope amongst a sea of tribulation. We continue to see the
erosion of our social institutions, which are becoming increasingly ineffective
and chaotic, as another war breaks out; a generations long simmering tension of
animosity, finally brought to a boil. Rights are being stripped, knowledge is being
undervalued, and yet, labor activism has been on the rise, and we have seen
some meaningful and remarkable gains for the workers of the entertainment, automotive
and food service industries.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a name="_Hlk152400046"></a><a name="_Hlk120957065"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Hlk152400046;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 24.0pt; line-height: 107%;">10)</span></span></a><span style="mso-bookmark: _Hlk120957065;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Hlk152400046;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: _Hlk120957065;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Hlk152400046;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 24.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Trans
Rights Rollback and Resistance:</span></b></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: _Hlk120957065;"></span><span style="mso-bookmark: _Hlk152400046;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 24.0pt; line-height: 107%;"> </span></span><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt11464446/"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Hlk152400046;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 24.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Anything’s
Possible</span></b></span></a><span style="mso-bookmark: _Hlk152400046;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 24.0pt; line-height: 107%;"> </span></b></span><span style="mso-bookmark: _Hlk152400046;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 24.0pt; line-height: 107%;">(2022) <o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Hlk152400046;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 24.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Hlk152400046;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/20WlagB4vFU" width="320" youtube-src-id="20WlagB4vFU"></iframe></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>At
the beginning of this year, over </span><a href="https://www.aclu.org/press-releases/over-120-bills-restricting-lgbtq-rights-introduced-nationwide-2023-so-far"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">120
different anti-LGBTQAI bills</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"> were introduced into
Congress, many of them targeting Trans people. This is yet another example of
the political right’s irrational and purposefully distracting culture war
against anyone who challenges their white male heteronormative Christian
Fascism, simply by existing. This has been an ongoing political attack, based
in fear, to grasp at and maintain power by scaring their base with false claims
and erroneous conclusions.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Several Republican
led states have </span><a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-republican-transgender-laws-pile-up-setting-2024-battle-lines-2023-05-18/"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">outlawed
gender affirming</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"> care, a set of processes and procedures
that allows Trans individuals to be able to have an accurate gender identity
and self-expression. Of the 500 total bills that were introduced this year, 48
passed, mostly affecting trans people in Oklahoma, Tennessee, Montana, Texas,
and Florida.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>However,
just as transphobes, and the institutions that they control, seek to codify their
bigotry into law, resistance to these laws has also been at an all-time high.
Activism across the country, from demonstrations, marches and sit ins, people
are making their voices heard in the overall support for Trans and LGBTQ rights;
as a majority of Americans want to </span><a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/social-trends/2022/06/28/americans-complex-views-on-gender-identity-and-transgender-issues/"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">protect
Trans people from discrimination</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>One
of the more recent films on this list, <i>Anything’s Possible (2022) </i>is a
trans inclusive romantic comedy that is set in the waning days of high school as
two students kindle an unexpected spark of passion between them. In the context
of the current state of trans rights, this story can be considered a microcosm,
with many of the events and experiences of discrimination felt in the film are
a proxy for, and inspired by, actual events in trans people’s lives. Yet, like
the resistance that fights back at such oppression, the film’s characters
persevere. This film stands as </span><a href="https://thesociologistsdojo.blogspot.com/2022/07/when-gender-socializationmet-romantic.html"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">the
first romantic comedy</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"> with a trans actor in the lead and is important
for overall gender and sexual representation on screen. This film embodies the
hope of a possible world free of anti-trans oppression; where love is love, no
matter who it ensnares.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 24.0pt; line-height: 107%;">9)</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span></span><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 24.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Disney v. DeSantis: </span></b><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0370263/"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 24.0pt; line-height: 107%;">AVP: Alien vs. Predator</span></b></a><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 24.0pt; line-height: 107%;">
(</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 24.0pt; line-height: 107%;">2004<b>)<o:p></o:p></b></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Cld40qD7HcY" width="320" youtube-src-id="Cld40qD7HcY"></iframe></b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><br /></b></div><b><br /></b><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">In 2022, Florida Governor
Ron DeSantis passed the Florida Parents’ Rights and Education Act. Publicly
known as the “Don’t say gay” bill, rightfully surmised through its contemptuous
colloquialism, forbids schools from discussing/providing course content or
instruction involving gender and sexual orientation. Additionally, this prohibits
any LGBTQAI child, or child of LGBTQAI parents, from talking about their lives
in a public school. Disney, Florida’s largest employer, and titan of
corporately corrosive crimes themselves, (</span><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/law/2011/aug/27/disney-factory-sweatshop-suicide-claims"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">including
child labor</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">) initially supported the bill, giving
$200,000 to the bill’s sponsors and co-sponsors. However, after protests from their
employees (that included threats of walk outs and work stoppage) and the eventual
passage of the bill, Disney publicly took a stance against it and donated 5
million dollars to Human Rights Campaign, a LGBTQAI advocacy group. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">In 2023, Disney also
paused their contributions to political campaigns in Florida, </span><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/05/18/business/disney-ron-desantis-florida.html"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">pulled
out of a 1 billion dollar deal</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"> to increase jobs in the
region, and personally sued Ron DeSantis for the violation of their free speech
rights. At the time, DeSantis was using political power to threaten the
sovereignty of Disney to operate independently inside the state of Florida. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">The lawsuit state that DeSantis' actions "jeopardizes its economic future in the region, and violates its constitutional rights". </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span> </span>It is well documented that I hate Disney with the fire of a thousand suns. From the beginning, and for most of its existence, Disney has amassed and horded corporate and cultural power over the United States and internationally. They have used everything from legally sleezy and strong-arm tactics to maintain their overall omnipotence in the popular media landscape; whether that be through the functions of capitalism, which cause them to create poor working conditions for employees and sell products through consumer engineering, with an eye toward planned obsolescence; all in the name of profit. However, Ron DeSantis is an aggressively creepy tool, whose publicly expressed views and policies actively court the worst dregs of humanity to his side, while actively threatening the livelihood of anyone who does not support his heteronormative Zionistic crypto fascist worldview. Thus, the best I can hope for is mutually assured destruction. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"> Due to my animosity for both DeSantis and Disney, it seems only fitting that the movie to properly encompass this kind of tension between two hostile and aggressive species is Paul W.S. Anderson’s 2004 antagonist amalgam: AVP: Alien vs. Predator. For comparison, Disney is obviously the xenomorphs, an entomologically virulent aggressor which does little more than multiply and dominates whole planets. DeSantis, like The Predator, hides behind a mask (of fruitless civility) while underneath, he’s a crab faced ghoul that wants to hunt people down and (metaphorically) tear out their spine. As the tag line for the film suggests: “Whoever wins, WE lose.” </span></p><div><br /></div>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 24.0pt; line-height: 107%;">8)</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span></span><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 24.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Book Banning: </span></b><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0060390/"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 24.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Fahrenheit 451</span></b></a><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 24.0pt; line-height: 107%;"> (</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 24.0pt; line-height: 107%;">1966)<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 24.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/ekax1n5Wy4s" width="320" youtube-src-id="ekax1n5Wy4s"></iframe></div><br /><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 24.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span></span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">According
to the American Library Association, there have been over </span><a href="https://www.npr.org/2023/09/20/1200647985/book-bans-libraries-schools"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">700
attempts to ban books in the first 8 months of 2023</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">.
Most of the books under this scrutiny were books that were written by people of
color or members of the LGBTQAI+ community in an extension of previous years
tensions between knowledge and the silencing of members of non-white, non-heterosexual
communities. Whether that be through a belligerently ignorant condemnation of
Critical Race Theory, or academia in general, in 2023, any book that challenges
the cultural primacy of the white, male, heterosexual, able-bodied Christians
is being targeted for elimination by a select few zealots that have managed to
claw their way to power.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Both
the Francois Truffaut adaptation and the Ray Bradbury classic center around the
control of knowledge as a form of intellectual pacification. While we’ve yet to
commit to the actual act of book burning, there have been </span><a href="https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2021/11/virginia-school-board-book-burning"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">recent
suggestions</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"> of such a practice by </span><a href="https://apnews.com/article/education-tennessee-nashville-libraries-32a262c6cad04f29ed3e77db03dccd56"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">current
members of congress</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">. This is another example of our weakening
socio-political structure as we slouch toward totalitarianism.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 24.0pt; line-height: 107%;">7)</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 24.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Affirmative Action in
Education Unconstitutional: </span></b><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt14111734/"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 24.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Operation Varsity Blues:
The College Admission Scandal</span></b></a><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 24.0pt; line-height: 107%;"> (2021)<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 24.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><b></b></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/LFHj8e7mU_I" width="320" youtube-src-id="LFHj8e7mU_I"></iframe></b></div><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 24.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></b><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 24.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">In
June of this year, the YOLO Supreme Court once again struck down 40 years of
precedence in the majority opinion of two cases involving Harvard and Chapel
Hill. According to the Court: “The Court has permitted race-based college
admissions only within the confines of narrow restrictions: such admissions
programs must comply with strict scrutiny, may never use race as a stereotype
or negative, and must—at some point—end." Unfortunately, this reasoning assumes
that race-based college admission discrimination no longer happens. The reality
is that students of color still face </span><a href="https://www.insidehighered.com/admissions/article/2020/10/26/will-conversation-turn-action-when-it-comes-issues-racial-equity"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">a
wide continuum of barriers to admission</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"> whether that be unfair
weighting of standardized tests, lower numbers of active recruitment of Black
and Brown students, lack of access to collegiate preparatory services in lower
income high schools that are disproportionally Black and Brown, or legacy
admission. These preferences all are additional hinderances that make it more
difficult for nonwhite individuals to go to prestigious colleges and
universities. The court’s inane decision invokes the kind of logic Former
Justice of the Supreme Court, Ruth Bader Ginsberg eloquently described as
“throwing away your umbrella in a rainstorm because you are not getting wet.”
when she was defending abortion rights. The same is true, now, with this court,
under the subject of race.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>To be
a touch glib and ironic, The Netflix docu-drama <i>Operation Varsity Blues: The
College Admission Scandal </i>discusses “the elite side door”. This is where wealthy
families who did not want to spend so much money in donations (the back door) to
get their child into an elite school, could for a lower price, orchestrate to
have their child be accepted into a university through falsifying their status
as a college athlete. After the scandal broke, one of the convicted, actor
Falicity Huffman stated that “it was the only thing she could do to secure a
future for her child,” without the forethought as to the dispersions that
casted upon her daughter’s intellectual capabilities and/or work ethic.
However, with this side door closed, other loopholes still exist, including all
the ones mentioned above, and anymore “side doors” that have yet to be
exposed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 24.0pt; line-height: 107%;">6)</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 24.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The Titan Submersible Implosion:
</span></b><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0297144/"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 24.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Ghosts
of the Abyss</span></b></a><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 24.0pt; line-height: 107%;"> (2003)<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/y7hsBkQEoaw" width="320" youtube-src-id="y7hsBkQEoaw"></iframe></b></div><b><br /></b><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span></span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">On
June 18<sup>th</sup> 2023, OceanGate’s submersible, <i>Titan, </i>imploded as
it was trying to reach the resting place of the Titanic. Five people died
including OceanGate’s CEO, Stockton Rush. The company that was founded in 2009
had specialized transporting paying customers in leased commercial submersibles.
The <i>Titan </i>had made expeditions to the Titanic the previous year but
never got close to the Titanic due to inclement weather. A later investigation
would find that the company did not initially seek sub certification due to the
excessive safety protocols; which in their words: “</span><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/06/20/us/oceangate-titanic-missing-submersible.html"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">hindered
innovation</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">”. Upon seeking certification from Lloyd’s Register in
2019, the vessel was </span><a href="https://www.cnn.com/americas/live-news/titanic-missing-sub-oceangate-06-23-23/index.html"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">denied</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">.
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Rush stated in a 2019 interview that he broke
some rules making <i>Titan</i> “with engineering and good judgement behind him.”
When the news broke about the vessel losing communication, intermittent banging
was picked up on the monitoring equipment. This led to speculation and fear
that there were survivors alive at the bottom of the ocean. This fear turned
out to be unfounded.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Unfortunately,
during the investigation of the incident, it was uncovered that the drive for
profit led to cost cutting practices (as with safety protocols) and embellishing
sales tactics. The initial cost of the 5-day excursion, including the trip down
to the Titanic, cost $250,000 per person. In trying to fill in seats, Rush
offered Vegas businessman Jay Bloom a $100,000 discount and told him that it
was “safer than crossing the street.” Bloom declined after hearing the safety
protocols. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The
Choice of <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>James Cameron’s <i>Titanic </i>documentary
is a bit glib considering the famed director has been down to the Titanic
several times without issue; and Cameron </span><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/06/22/science/james-cameron-titanic-submersible.html"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">vocalized
his criticism</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"> of the company and the construction of
the submersible itself. The film documents the process of deep-sea diving and
the inherent dangers associated with it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Part of the reasoning behind the backlash and lack of empathy for those
that died is coupled with the image of bored billionaires circumventing safety
measures to create another exclusive experience; further stratifying them from others
at lower class levels. To that end, there are many that consider the implosion
karmic retribution. However, those individuals tend to see the universe as
having a cosmic bent toward justice, when justice is just as much a social
construction as anything else. The reality, as many Marxists will tell you, is
that there is no ethical consumption under capitalism, and that the implosion,
while avoidable, was made more difficult because profit was promised. Choices
were made and consequences of those choices were experienced. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Only later do we decide whether that event was
a tragedy or justice. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><a name="_Hlk152679528"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 24.0pt; line-height: 107%;">5)</span></a><span style="mso-bookmark: _Hlk152679528;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: _Hlk152679528;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 24.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Trump
Indictments </span></b></span><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0870111/"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Hlk152679528;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 24.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Frost/Nixon</span></b></span></a><span style="mso-bookmark: _Hlk152679528;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 24.0pt; line-height: 107%;"> (2008)<o:p></o:p></span></b></span></p>
<span style="mso-bookmark: _Hlk152679528;"></span>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/WRekwLKCcgA" width="320" youtube-src-id="WRekwLKCcgA"></iframe></div><br /> <o:p></o:p><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Donald
Trump surrendered to authorities four separate times this year; facing both
civil and criminal charges involving real estate fraud, the handling of
classified documents and conspiracy to overturn the 2020 election. Bewilderingly,
neither the indictments, nor any possible convictions determined by a court of
law, disqualify Trump from holding the office of the President again in 2025. While
there are some that cling to an interpretation of both events and the
constitution that would see Trump disqualified under section 3 of </span><a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-66690276"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">the
14<sup>th</sup> amendment</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">, the likelihood of that transpiring
is slim, given the reluctance of the US attorney general and New York AG to
indite in the first place. This is understandable given the zealous exuberance
with which Trump’s followers embrace and defend their demagog. The prosecutors
must have been hesitantly trepidatious to bring the indictments forward fearing
both reprisals and retaliation. Still, even as charges were handed down, Trump’s
defense has implemented a scorched earth campaign, centered around undermining
the public’s confidence in the US court system.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>This process of disruption and spreading of misinformation has led to
several applications and revocations of “gag orders” on the 45<sup>th</sup> President,
determining what he can and cannot say to both the press and his followers. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The fact that
presidential indictments being at the middle of this retrospective list speaks
to the normalization of the political consequence that is Donald Trump. We’ve
lived with him in or adjacent to the presidential spotlight for nearly decade, that
his pathologically evil irrationality seems both quaint and comforting to…*checks
poll numbers* about half of the US population. The sycophantic cult that has
deified him cannot be reasoned with or compelled away from him. It is the
movement of independents back to his side, that even in the face of these
charges, he seems like that best candidate in their eyes. Wild. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In a pivotal scene toward the end of <i>Frost/Nixon,
</i>a Ron Howard film dramatizing the interviews conducted by David Frost and
former president Richard Nixon in 1977, Nixon (Frank Langella) responding to a
difficult line of questioning from David Frost (Michael Sheen) in their final
interview states “When the President does it, its not Illegal.” This is the
reasoning that Donald Trump is using as his defense. However, where Nixon
understood that the presidency is elected official, Donald Trump sees the
presidency more akin to a Monarch. Like being CEO of his own company, he
believes that he is above both the law and the people. What he says goes, and
he can not be held accountable for anything that he did as President. This is synthesized
in the quote from Nixon that is embraced by Trump as Gospel.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 24.0pt; line-height: 107%;">4)</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span></span><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 24.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Labor Strikes: </span></b><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0079638/"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 24.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Norma Rae</span></b></a><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 24.0pt; line-height: 107%;"> (1979)
<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 24.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><b></b></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/w3k51Wlk7HM" width="320" youtube-src-id="w3k51Wlk7HM"></iframe></b></div><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 24.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></b><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></i>In
2023, </span><a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2023/10/09/from-uaw-to-wga-heres-why-so-many-workers-are-on-strike-this-year.html"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">over
453,000 workers</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"> have gone on strike in a variety of
industries. From food service and auto workers to writers, actors, and medical
professionals, this year we saw a breaking point for the issue of labor
revolving around pay equity, residuals, number of hours worked, various working
conditions, and the ownership of work produced.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>While many of these worker strikes were inevitably successful, they only
worked because of the solidarity of the workforce and the profit loss due to
the work stoppage. Not only does this not change the problem of capitalism, but
many of these industries are also trying to implement union busting behavior to
make sure that this does not happen again. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Over the last decade, we
have seen an amalgamated fusion between social media and political activism to
the point that a lack of engagement “on the socials” is tantamount to political
irrelevance. It is a foregone conclusion that any social or political movement
must have a presence in these online spaces to gain any kind of political
traction. Thus, the labor strikes of 2023 were reductively referred to as “hot
labor summer”, transforming an important moment for worker’s rights into
another transient tik tock trend, deflating its public power through the
anesthetic amnesia of a short attention span. Thus, it is unlikely we will see
this kind of labor activism again anytime soon, because even though many of
these industries have acquiesced to the demands of their workers, we did not
see a complete overhaul of the capitalist system that affects all labor. Instead,
we have experienced these little tremors of economic social justice when what
we need is a devastating earthquake.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Additionally, in the case
of the writer’s and the actor’s strike, the studios are coming to fiercely
erroneous conclusions. For example: Bob Iger CEO of Disney, stated that the
economic losses felt by recent Marvel films was not due to overworked animators,
the bureaucratic standardization of every single Marvel film, or a drive to
meet a release date to forsake quality, but that the films have been </span><a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2023/11/30/disney-ceo-bob-iger-says-movies-have-been-too-focused-on-messaging.html"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“too
focused on messaging</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">” [read as “Too woke”] and less focused on
“entertaining everyone” [read as “white men”]. To translate further, this means
that Iger believes that storytelling is unimportant, and Disney should just produce
content.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For Iger, the content doesn’t
matter, as long as that content doesn’t say anything about the world.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As a sociologist that studies pop culture and
understands that pop culture is both a cultural and social product with the
ability to influence decision making (pop culture is soft power after all), I
know that this is impossible. But what Iger is harkening back to, and steering
Disney toward, is to content and messaging that reinforces the traditional heterosexual
Christian white male, which fuels the normalization of white supremacy.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The film that captures the labor fever of 2023
is 1979’s <i>Norma Rae </i>starring Sally Field as the Titular cotton Mill
worker who organizes a labor strike to for a union. The film is wonderful in
its depictions of typical union busting behaviors pointed out by scholars and
labor organizers to this day. This is mostly due to the real-life union
organizing in 1978 that inspired the film. Hence, once again this is another
instance of life imitating art, imitating life. The soft power of film and
popular culture is often cyclical. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 24.0pt; line-height: 107%;">3) Kissinger’s Death: <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0091763/">Platoon</a> (1986)<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 24.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/R8weLPF4qBQ" width="320" youtube-src-id="R8weLPF4qBQ"></iframe></b></div><b><br /></b><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span></span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">This
November, infamous diplomat <a href="https://theintercept.com/2023/11/29/henry-kissinger-death/">Henry
Kissinger final died</a> at the age of 100. In the Geopolitical landscape, he
was a giant; <a href="https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2023/05/henry-kissinger-at-100-still-a-war-criminal/">manufacturing
malevolent Machiavellian machinations</a> with a deft hand that rarely wavered
in the face of scrutiny. Because of these actions, he will also be remembered as
(one of) the most morally bankrupt individuals to ever live. <a href="https://www.newsweek.com/henry-kissinger-say-i-would-antisemitic-jewish-something-wrong-1848303">He
was a Jewish Antisemite</a> who, in his time in various government roles, promoted
genocide (Cambodia, Indonesia), extending the war in Vietnam (troop surge), encouraging
a military coup of a newly elected socialist government(s) (Chille and
Argentina) supported the annexation of a previously freed states (East Timor),
prolonged apartheid in South Africa and ordered the dropping of 9 billion pounds
of munitions on Indochina during his tenure. He was revered by imperialists,
dictators, military leaders, war hawks and private military contractors. He was
also the enemy of social justice and reviled by those who seek a more positive
and equitable future. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">If anyone needed any more
proof as to the state of our broken system, it is the fact that Kissinger was able
to live to 100 without any consequences for his actions; either directly
(prison time) nor indirectly (professional alienation). After his time in office,
Kissinger continued to advise presidents both Democrat and Republican and was
awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his work negotiating ceasefires. Though,
given the <a href="https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/blame-sloppy-journalism-for-the-nobel-prizes-1172688/">origins
of the Nobel Peace Prize</a>, and <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/oct/01/the-nobel-peace-prize-is-a-whos-who-of-hawks-hawks-hypocrites-and-war-criminals">who
they give it to</a>, it seems consistent that Kissinger would be honored. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Oliver Stone’s <i>Platoon</i>
is a film to rewatch for anyone who wants to sample what the world was like,
particularly military life, when Kissinger ran the world at the height of his
powers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was a time where soldiers’
lives were measured in seconds, and their value was only measured in bulk. Out of
all of the films of 70’s and 80’s <i>Platoon</i> was one of three films without
any military funding (the others being <i>Full Metal Jacket, and Apocalypse,
Now)</i> because of their complex [read as more real] depictions of solider life
at the time than other films that were given the Military’s blessing. <i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 24.0pt; line-height: 107%;">2) Speaker of the House Battle: <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4686844/">Death of Stalin</a> (2017)<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><b></b></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/K4MVx0lWvlQ" width="320" youtube-src-id="K4MVx0lWvlQ"></iframe></b></div><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 24.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></b><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>On October
3<sup>rd</sup> 2023, Speaker of the House Kevin Macarthy was voted out of office
by a thin Republican majority spearheaded by gross “dude-bro” Congressmen Matt Gaetz.
This was after 16 attempts and Macarthy metaphorically walking on hands and
knees to prostrate himself before Gaetz and Representative Lauren Bobert just
to be nominated. What followed was a 3-week stall of work in the House of
Representatives; where many of our elected officials were so busy vying for
power that they haltered the process of government. During this time, budgets
weren’t approved, and aid could not be given; during a time when the US
promised to support allies in two foreign conflicts. Handfuls of Republican House
members were selected and then failed to win the nomination: Steve Scalise, Jim
Jordan, and Tom Emmer were all voted on, each more conservative than the last. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Mike Johnson finally won the nomination (by a
razor thin margin against his Democratic challenger, Hakeem Jefferies) a 2020
election denier who has continued the <a href="https://www.npr.org/2023/10/26/1208664809/who-is-mike-johnson-an-ardent-conservative-who-embraces-far-right-policies">conservative
crusade against abortion and birth control</a>.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The
satirical buffoonery of the characters in Armando Iannucci’s <i>Death of Stalin</i>
seem affable when comparing them to the actions of some of our US
representatives. When looking at the “Trump faction” of the House, we have members
who have been <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/feb/15/matt-gaetz-sex-trafficking-case-closed-without-charges">investigated
for sex trafficking</a> minors, <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/us-journal/how-the-qanon-candidate-marjorie-taylor-greene-reached-the-doorstep-of-congress">removed
from Committee assignments amidst fiery and false rhetoric</a>, and <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/2023/09/13/politics/boebert-beetlejuice-musical/index.html">forcefully
removed from a Broadway show</a> for raucous and lascivious behavior. This is
such a congressional clown car, that any <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/05/business/media/how-to-satirize-this-election-even-the-onion-is-having-trouble.html">attempts
to satirize it, is ultimately fruitless</a>. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 24.0pt; line-height: 107%;">1) Reignition of Israel/Palestine Conflict
<a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt8995252/?ref_=kw_li_tt">Gaza</a> (2019) <o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><b></b></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/d2yxqkbG23U" width="320" youtube-src-id="d2yxqkbG23U"></iframe></b></div><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 24.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></b><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 24.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span></span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The
apathetic guilt over the genocide perpetrated by the Nazi regime in WWII resulted
in the appropriation of land and removal of its denizens in 1948.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This reparational action, the proverbial “robbing
Peter to pay Paul”, was the spark that set the Israel/Palestinian conflict in
motion. Over the decades, there have been eruptions of violence and periods of
tense cold war conflict…but bever peace. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>On
October 7<sup>th</sup> 2023, the tension between Isarel and Palestine once
again boiled over with a Hamas attack on Israeli Military bases and civilian
population centers. From that Israel promptly declared war on Hamas, escalating
its military numbers <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/gazans-said-they-got-15-minute-warning-before-israeli-strikes-destroyed-homes-2022-08-06/">and
after little warning</a>, began regular bombing campaigns throughout Gaza including
soft civilian targets <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/11/4/israeli-strikes-target-schools-hospitals-mosques-on-gaza">like
schools and hospitals.</a> Israel also <a href="https://www.pbs.org/newshour/classroom/daily-news-lessons/2023/10/israel-cuts-off-food-water-and-fuel-to-gaza-amid-bombardment">cut
off food and water to the region</a>. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Even
though Hamas fighters began this current skirmish, they are far outmatched in
both weapons and tactics. In that, Israel has a monopoly. Their “Iron Dome” is
fully backed and supported by the US. A country that has given Israel blanket
and unwavering support since its inception. This support is fueled by fears of
being perceived as anti-Semitic and has resulted in <a href="https://www.npr.org/2023/11/28/1215512722/theres-been-an-uptick-of-suspected-hate-crimes-in-the-u-s-since-israel-ham">a
rise</a> in <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2023/10/16/us/chicago-muslim-boy-stabbing-investigation/index.html">hate
crimes against Palestinians</a> in the States.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I
chose the 2019 film <i>Gaza</i>, for two reasons: First, we can not lose sight
of the humanity of others even if there is conflict. One of the issues with the
(first?) two world wars is that Military propaganda dehumanized the enemy for American
Soldiers but when they came face to face with each other, during the start of
the war, they found it difficult to engage in violence.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>World War I also saw the first and only
Christmas Armistice in 1914, impart because both sides ran out of munitions
weeks before. But as the war ranged on, and the demonization of the enemy was
more complete, truces became rare. Secondly, a comparison of Gazans under Hamas
can be a point of commiseration for Israelis under their known semi-tyrannical government
especially under Netanyahu, who<a href="https://apnews.com/article/netanyahu-israel-hamas-politics-palestinians-war-fc430098bc31dd848af0e8b7cf52ce51">
has been criticized</a> for using Hamas to remain in power. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><br /></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><br /></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMYLlQSARiezLEBMa-wYsCZhkpMeRH08F6DFNPFwgG9h1J3KinjGzluCnmLt4LcIbXTELwXDlO5RG2hyphenhyphenmyGEjG59tRPGCp7ml2GQwqThDQ1CYxpoww4hqadnI3xI7F21k6yVIzb1XE1cJXEh4kcQxxBi0yGXhtw6Jfr00bCUbPvQJtOv4slQ8ehaMftaG9/s1300/1559668089_ouvparasite.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="919" data-original-width="1300" height="283" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMYLlQSARiezLEBMa-wYsCZhkpMeRH08F6DFNPFwgG9h1J3KinjGzluCnmLt4LcIbXTELwXDlO5RG2hyphenhyphenmyGEjG59tRPGCp7ml2GQwqThDQ1CYxpoww4hqadnI3xI7F21k6yVIzb1XE1cJXEh4kcQxxBi0yGXhtw6Jfr00bCUbPvQJtOv4slQ8ehaMftaG9/w400-h283/1559668089_ouvparasite.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><br /></span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">CONCLUSION </span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 24.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Thus, I look out, on the
precipice of another year on the horizon, with a minor sense of personal hope that
absolutely, positively… does not extend to the mezzo or macro level(s). Our
institutions are crumbling, there is an acrimonious stalemate in Congress, and
the likelihood of a Trump second term is on the horizon. There is not much to
be thankful for on that level, which is why it is essential for us to find love
and joy wherever we find it. Whether that be among our family, friends,
spouses, partners and ‘others of significance’, we cannot count on happiness
coming from anyone other than inside and around all of us. I leave you with the
upcoming regeneration of the 14<sup>th</sup> Doctor into their 15<sup>th</sup>
incarnation. May we all transform ourselves for the coming celebrations and
challenges ahead. See you all in 2024! <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 24.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/0cgaQZmUV_g" width="320" youtube-src-id="0cgaQZmUV_g"></iframe></div><br /> <o:p></o:p><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p><br /><p></p>Brian Brutlaghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08099644007940320266noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8714941782515128558.post-14917114050115852462023-11-03T11:04:00.000-07:002023-11-03T11:04:27.435-07:00The Films of Ana Lily Amirpour: An Introduction <p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgpV5cWA07sQlKFNWmDvBaagB3ix-p0x1FzIDZEd2X94FxHPQ-CGvnRxZzhf6QMniXR2fT65mrt9fSNsBuFphTE9QC72b0iNZyRLgHRNVh585J33Nnp6h8KOy06NElPcuQCnchtT7TN1Pm5JaXNVZzwykcYCEDCLs1ojz1o2I-eIRSzOGxsWsNj25YnACv/s1000/11095081_0.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="675" data-original-width="1000" height="270" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgpV5cWA07sQlKFNWmDvBaagB3ix-p0x1FzIDZEd2X94FxHPQ-CGvnRxZzhf6QMniXR2fT65mrt9fSNsBuFphTE9QC72b0iNZyRLgHRNVh585J33Nnp6h8KOy06NElPcuQCnchtT7TN1Pm5JaXNVZzwykcYCEDCLs1ojz1o2I-eIRSzOGxsWsNj25YnACv/w400-h270/11095081_0.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><p style="text-align: center;"><br /></p><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">INTRODUCTION <o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Ana lily Amirpour is an eclectic marvel. Her
films are a beautifully amalgamated blend of genres, styles, and aesthetics. As
a director, Amirpour is consistently unconventional. Her filmography views like
a tasting menu of the filmmaking process: traditional television, music videos,
</span><a href="https://hatandbeard.com/products/sent-from-my-slimy-brains-by-ana-lily-amirpour"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">an
iphone excavation turned soon-to-be published scrap book</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">,
and of course movies.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Amirpour embodies </span><a href="https://www.vogue.com/article/the-american-gothic-fantasies-of-ana-lily-amirpour"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">what
one interviewer called</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"> “gnostic”: esoteric knowledge
(typically) of the mystical variety. Amirpour embraces “the other” and pushes
against the structures and systems in which we live, making her (criminally
few) films, ripe for sociological analysis. Thus, Ana Lilly Amirpour is the next
selection in my director deep dives on the blog. </span><a href="https://thesociologistsdojo.blogspot.com/2013/07/the-films-of-christopher-nolan_3.html"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">As</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">
with </span><a href="https://thesociologistsdojo.blogspot.com/2018/12/the-films-of-hayao-miyazaki-introduction.html"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">my</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"> previous
</span><a href="https://thesociologistsdojo.blogspot.com/2021/06/the-chambara-films-of-akira-kurosawa.html"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">subjects</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">,
I will be covering all of Amirpour’s three feature-length pictures, along with any
future projects in perpetuity, with the possibility of an essay on her </span><a href="https://www.netflix.com/title/80209229"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">important short form work</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">.<a href="https://d.docs.live.net/bb5a620476910e43/Documents/Sociologists%20Dojo/ana%20lily%20amirpour%20Introduction%20.docx#_ftn1" name="_ftnref1" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn1;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[1]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a> <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_YGWIxFwCKcEwzp22oKs9Y3i2fWsqsVho7dxaBcrkrYp9p2uUns37WfGas2yEdbA5xkh9vHKCl9XeZbhbpmVo-VQWE4YdhGpce1SsThvthx3eydsaDV6DD0y0o6rNF6o9V9PlV_-tfVvgz4QTxeHen1fSn0QPx2LYEhziMb7OwKvB1PUEAqXqziSvt4ey/s1200/B9lSVCGIAAM7LCK.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="674" data-original-width="1200" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_YGWIxFwCKcEwzp22oKs9Y3i2fWsqsVho7dxaBcrkrYp9p2uUns37WfGas2yEdbA5xkh9vHKCl9XeZbhbpmVo-VQWE4YdhGpce1SsThvthx3eydsaDV6DD0y0o6rNF6o9V9PlV_-tfVvgz4QTxeHen1fSn0QPx2LYEhziMb7OwKvB1PUEAqXqziSvt4ey/w400-h225/B9lSVCGIAAM7LCK.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">BRIEF BACKGROUND <o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A
first generation Iranian American, Ana lily Amirpour’s family fled the Iranian revolution;
first settling in England, where she was born in 1976, and then to Florida
before finally settling in Bakersfield, California. After studying biology for
a hot second, Amirpour got her bachelor’s degree from San Francisco State
University in painting and sculpting; before moving on to the master’s program
in screenwriting from UCLA.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Amirpour’s
first love of US pop culture came from the culture shock she experienced when
moving to the US. Like many immigrants, she learned about the American culture
through the media content that she consumed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Interested and (possibly) obsessed, Amirpour devoured the American media
diet of the 1980’s, reveling in the work of Madonna and Michael Jackson. The
consumption of content soon transitioned into production as she took her dad’s
camera and recreated commercials and made new ones. Her first film, when she
was 12 was a 7 min short about a sleepover that resulted in a bloody massacre.
Amirpour admits that this film has no plot, it was just a sequence of the
killer going room to room murdering the occupants with a knife. Regardless of
quality, Amirpour was hooked stating: </span><a href="https://www.vogue.com/article/the-american-gothic-fantasies-of-ana-lily-amirpour"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“Making
films is just a way to subsidize my being a madman…I don’t think I could do
anything else. Cinema is such a powerful tool- its’s limitless you surrender to
it.” <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This release has led to the writing, producing,
and directing of three wonderful, absurdist and bizarrely poignant films of the
last ten years. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Amirpour’s
debut,<i> A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night </i>in 2014,<i> </i>was an indie
darling and a trumpet heralding the arrival of an avant-garde auteur. The
radical spirit of this freshman film lives on in our collective consciousness. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Fueled by her love of Sergio Leone films, this
Ennio Morricone infused <i>Nosferatu</i> homage was widely lauded as the “vampire
Spaghetti western”; a blend of genres that has become <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt24216998/">the foundation for one of the most
interesting indies of 2023</a>. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Amirpour followed this up in 2016 with
<i>The Bad Batch</i>, a dystopian neon infused tale of cannibals, drifters, and
cults. Continuing her juxtaposing of genres, Amirpour describes the film as <i>Mad
Max</i> meets <i>Pretty in Pink</i>. The title of Amirpour’s criminally
underrated sophomore film has been appropriated by Disney and Star Wars,
further obscuring the film into irrelevancy. However, being nominated for the Golden
Lion and winning the special jury Prize at the Venice Film festival, undermines
the negative critical reception and the perceived lack of the film’s cultural
value at large. Indeed, the film would indirectly inspire other female centered,
post- apocalyptic stories to be told, such as 2017’s <i>Revenge</i> to much
greater success.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Amirpour’s
latest film,<a href="https://d.docs.live.net/bb5a620476910e43/Documents/Sociologists%20Dojo/ana%20lily%20amirpour%20Introduction%20.docx#_ftn2" name="_ftnref2" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn2;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[2]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
released in the US in 2022, is <i>Mona Lisa and the Blood Moon</i>, takes the typical
“escaped inmate from a secret government facility” storyline and inverts the
characters you are designed to trust (or not) based upon tropes of the genre. Premiering
at Venice in 2021, this was Amirpour’s last film shot before the COVID lockdown,
which dragged postproduction and effected the marketing of the film. Critically,
the film has yet to reach the heights of Amirpour’s debut, but the stylish neon
psycho punk aesthetic, has fortunately resonated with enough people for it to
get a wider distribution through Saban Films, with some people calling it: existentialist
art and <a href="https://www.bostonherald.com/2022/09/30/mona-lisa-and-the-blood-moon-a-standout-thriller-fantasy/">a
killer supernatural, picaresque journey film</a>.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>In
terms of preparation, when she starts a new project, Amirpour sequesters herself
in a Las Vegas hotel (her favorite being Encore) until she has a script. Because
Amirpour is also more focused on the visual language of the film, given the
medium, rather than the dialogue, most of her films focus on framing, shot
composition and color. Amirpour believes that film is the socially magical
force that allows people to experience greater human connection.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><a href="https://www.vogue.com/article/the-american-gothic-fantasies-of-ana-lily-amirpour">In
that same interview</a> mentioned above, Amirpour discusses the delicious
dissonance between a performer and the audience; seeing something “funny and
mundane” about the fact that people can have their minds collectively blown
over witnessing the execution of a magic trick, while the magician, who knows
the secrets, is going to have a cheeseburger after the show. This is banality
of art to its creator. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Unfortunately,
Amirpour’s films have <a href="https://www.the-numbers.com/person/820650401-Ana-Lily-Amirpour#tab=summary">not
been friendly with the overall box office</a>. <i>A Girl Walks Home Alone at
Night </i>made $628,000 on a $57,000 budget. The follow-up, <i>The Bad Batch, </i>only
made $201,890 on a budget of 6 million; and while the budget for <i>Mona Lisa and
The Blood Moon </i>is not currently known, nor the domestic box office, it only
made 149,304 internationally (mainly South Korea) based on the popularity of
the film’s star, Jun Jong-seo.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There is
an amount of scrappy struggle to every one of Amirpour’s films as the
characters reflect the tribulations of their author. This makes Amirpour films
a unique and different experience; like “conversing” with a magic eight ball,
you are unsure what you are going to get next. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></i><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsy2TaXzOqwXnWfSeGaWc-j-28K8vhoV4O3NFF2C0QKWcuOQIaUkO3VoV-I9z2Vt38D3hDMNmV0Cc1DnXztDEMCeBK0XL1bzhThvbgYWaxUmCp9Z5Z0lwZTicOsDEVtKmeipMeBWRXHYiokGF4ldA1hRm_8V1QUs09E2hLHC18G2yPEDAXe7ohu5-93pvI/s2500/philadelphia_crime_07192021_1.webp" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1875" data-original-width="2500" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsy2TaXzOqwXnWfSeGaWc-j-28K8vhoV4O3NFF2C0QKWcuOQIaUkO3VoV-I9z2Vt38D3hDMNmV0Cc1DnXztDEMCeBK0XL1bzhThvbgYWaxUmCp9Z5Z0lwZTicOsDEVtKmeipMeBWRXHYiokGF4ldA1hRm_8V1QUs09E2hLHC18G2yPEDAXe7ohu5-93pvI/w400-h300/philadelphia_crime_07192021_1.webp" width="400" /></a></div><br /><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">PRIMING THE THEMES<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Amirpour’s influences are
as varied as her films. In addition to the collaboration between Sergio Leone
and Ennio Morricone for her first film, her later two films have influences of David
Lynch, Coppola, and Zemeckis. Additionally, since all her films have included a
main female protagonist, most of her films are projected to be Feminist. While
that influence is easy to make considering the trajectory of each of her main
characters through the films, Amirpour moves away from strict labels as she
does not want her films to only be perceived through a singular lens. She
regularly tells stories about “outcasts that do not fit into the conventions of
a “system” saying that <a href="https://www.vogue.com/article/the-american-gothic-fantasies-of-ana-lily-amirpour">“…being
an Outsider means that you’re an individual, and fully aware of it.”</a>. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Therefore, much of the upcoming analysis will
be mining the work of feminist and typical post modern “systems” scholars to make
Amirpour’s work shine greater with an unparalleled vibrancy. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Additionally, all her
films are also clearly motivated through a specific migratory narrative. The
films’ resonance being captured and internalized by a wider audience, is more a
product of the consistency of US xenophobic immigration policies that create
solidarity around the collective trauma of the immigrant experience. Much of this
will be explored in the forthcoming essays, as well as looking at oppressive governments,
the creation of found families, and the desire of freedom.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>To that end, I’ll most likely be looking at
immigrant experiences, and touch on the hypocrisy of how the United States,
notable a country of (genocidal) immigrants ourselves, historically hate
immigrants. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/fSD8rm4oHxk" width="320" youtube-src-id="fSD8rm4oHxk"></iframe></div><br /> <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">CONCLUSION <o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Sadly, Amirpour has not made
a lot of films. While many of those reasons will be explored through this
retrospective, we should be grateful and embrace what we got: A trilogy of
unconnected, weird, daring, and vibrant films that exist on the fringes, push
the boundaries of convention through a demand to witness it’s spectacle, and engage
with challenging subject matter. Amirpour’s films show us the value of filmmaking
as an artform. The scope of her vision and her willingness to play in the moral
gray, while keeping her films bright with a lively musicality shows the versatility
of film as a medium. Without directors like Ana lily Amirpour, all our films
would be bland, tasteless cookie cutter products of over-tilled corporately controlled
IP, that is too busy promoting the tie-in to the film, that they forgot to give
the movie a soul in the first place.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<div style="mso-element: footnote-list;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><br clear="all" />
<hr align="left" size="1" width="33%" />
<!--[endif]-->
<div id="ftn1" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<p class="MsoFootnoteText"><a href="https://d.docs.live.net/bb5a620476910e43/Documents/Sociologists%20Dojo/ana%20lily%20amirpour%20Introduction%20.docx#_ftnref1" name="_ftn1" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn1;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[1]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a> <a href="https://thesociologistsdojo.blogspot.com/2022/09/the-films-of-karyn-kusama-introduction.html">Karyn
Kusama</a> <o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="ftn2" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<p class="MsoFootnoteText"><a href="https://d.docs.live.net/bb5a620476910e43/Documents/Sociologists%20Dojo/ana%20lily%20amirpour%20Introduction%20.docx#_ftnref2" name="_ftn2" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn2;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[2]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a> As
of this writing <o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
</div><br /><p></p>Brian Brutlaghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08099644007940320266noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8714941782515128558.post-75081994084283823312023-10-08T12:01:00.000-07:002023-10-08T12:01:18.246-07:00'Just a Barbie Girl, in a Post-Roe World': The Sociology of Greta Gerwig's Barbie <p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhslWFiEJZvhHVMpijCVVtU49ixpE6kQdCLut5XLdQcqIXeKPCUzCk-Ro5rYgXuyEVt6x431Hy14k2ASS6uyyfDQav_3Zrq8pZQICK7wahAbR9JegWI9sdglsKU-MKgDZX3WJRHwFMPekUQkmpvXPPLvNYMjI8RPk8IXixAa08wiLH8_kHdZUj6im4v3SCy/s980/philadelphia_crime_07192021_1.webp" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="551" data-original-width="980" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhslWFiEJZvhHVMpijCVVtU49ixpE6kQdCLut5XLdQcqIXeKPCUzCk-Ro5rYgXuyEVt6x431Hy14k2ASS6uyyfDQav_3Zrq8pZQICK7wahAbR9JegWI9sdglsKU-MKgDZX3WJRHwFMPekUQkmpvXPPLvNYMjI8RPk8IXixAa08wiLH8_kHdZUj6im4v3SCy/w400-h225/philadelphia_crime_07192021_1.webp" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">Since its unveiling in
1959, the “Barbie doll”, has been a brand name, a role model, and a source of
toxic female body messages. It has shaped our cultural understanding of
femininity; giving girls something to aspire to. Originally, this aspiration
was outside of the traditional gender roles dominated by the time period which
encircled around the transformation of girls into wives and mothers.
Simultaneously, Barbie also became the focal point for unhealthy beauty ideals on
which body shaming tactics were predicated. Still, the good will and
questionable products Barbie has been associated with, is less about having a
particular feminist stance and more about Barbie (as a product, and a brand)
riding the wave of the cultural zeitgeist in search for higher short-term
profits (Zeisler 2016). This is the backdrop of the newest iteration of
Mattel’s flagship product: The <i>Barbie</i> <i>(2023)</i> movie directed by
Greta Gerwig.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In this analytical review of
the film, the second paper in the planned “Barbenheimer” duology, I will be
looking at the history of Barbie through the various feminist movement waves,
the relationship between Barbie as a product of its Parent company, Mattel, and
the way that the film highlights, accentuates and complicates its own feminist
message through its unexpected populism and commodification. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/pBk4NYhWNMM" width="320" youtube-src-id="pBk4NYhWNMM"></iframe></div><br /><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">PLOT<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span></span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">When
“Stereotypical Barbie” (Margot Robbie) the centerpiece of the fantasy world
“Barbieland”, created by Mattel, starts to have “irrepressible thoughts of
death”, she is tasked by “Weird Barbie” (Kate MacKinnon) to repair the rift
between their world, and the real one. But when Stow-a-way, Ken (Ryan Gosling)
learns about Patriarchy, he transforms “Barbieland” into “Kendom”. By film’s
end, it will take A human (America Ferrera) her daughter (Ariana Greenblatt)
and all of the Barbies to reverse what Ken did, while dodging Mattel’s CEO
(Will Ferrel) and his corporate cronies looking to put a lid on the whole
thing.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkZiy7BSNrUskwUKZU0zZ_ndXdLHLI4-D4W4Q0TE-Do4ZGaKZPkri2-I1jnnrkJhJzMTNtgisxxgWslXj5Uib11Bid-3y_53bbp1yt7EAfjId2s6tUyt2wrx7b0Avr35ZzlD21DxJMsL-w_kdiD7L0WB8T-WwmB3QpZNs5Nih_JUm-1YYz8cdBGtbIRrDG/s2000/B9lSVCGIAAM7LCK.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1375" data-original-width="2000" height="275" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkZiy7BSNrUskwUKZU0zZ_ndXdLHLI4-D4W4Q0TE-Do4ZGaKZPkri2-I1jnnrkJhJzMTNtgisxxgWslXj5Uib11Bid-3y_53bbp1yt7EAfjId2s6tUyt2wrx7b0Avr35ZzlD21DxJMsL-w_kdiD7L0WB8T-WwmB3QpZNs5Nih_JUm-1YYz8cdBGtbIRrDG/w400-h275/B9lSVCGIAAM7LCK.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">HISTORICAL CONTEXT <o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">The History of Mattel and Barbie</span></i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Forever-Barbie-Unauthorized-Biography-Real/dp/0802776949"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">The
history of</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"> the </span><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Barbie-Ruth-Worlds-Famous-Created/dp/0061341320/ref=d_m_crc_dp_lf_d_t1_sccl_1_2/138-0595186-2612025?pd_rd_w=fKnsN&content-id=amzn1.sym.76a0b561-a7b4-41dc-9467-a85a2fa27c1c&pf_rd_p=76a0b561-a7b4-41dc-9467-a85a2fa27c1c&pf_rd_r=58578MVR5H9EHM366T59&pd_rd_wg=4seJA&pd_rd_r=89532dcc-ded1-4ed6-a560-798269e00e9a&pd_rd_i=0061341320&psc=1"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">relationship</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">
between </span><a href="https://www.amazon.com/You-Dont-Own-Me-Battles/dp/039335671X/ref=sr_1_16?crid=J20N1KO8YT78&keywords=barbie+and+mattel&qid=1696088145&s=books&sprefix=barbie+and+mattell+%2Cstripbooks%2C125&sr=1-16"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">Mattel</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">
and </span><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Barbie-Chronicles-Living-Turns-Forty/dp/0684862751/ref=sr_1_7?crid=3OTOZN2Y8HCHB&keywords=Barbie+history&qid=1696088275&s=books&sprefix=barbie+history+%2Cstripbooks%2C122&sr=1-7"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">Barbie</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">
has been </span><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Story-Barbie-Woman-Who-Created/dp/0593705408/ref=sr_1_4?keywords=Barbie+history&qid=1696088357&s=books&sr=1-4"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">well
documented</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">. Therefore, allow me to be terse. </span><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Good-Bad-Barbie-History-Impact/dp/0147516064"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">The
Barbie doll</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"> was created by Ruth Handler (played in
the film by Rita Perlman) after vacationing in Europe in 1956 (the doll
debuting in 1959). The image of Barbie was based on a German Sex doll, was named
after Ruth’s children: Barbara and Kenneth, (which is a bit incestuous given
the dolls biographical history) and designed to give girls a role model. Originally,
these aspirations were wrapped up in the body image of the 1960’s, complete
with post-war ideas of femininity that only encircled appearance and silence. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The company has since pivoted to one of superficial
inclusion and diversity that is not only still exclusive (</span><a href="https://www.thetelegraph.com/opinion/article/commentary-18297510.php"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">not
including all body types</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">) and problematic, but it always had
to be fought for. Barbie got a variety of jobs, not due to the progressive
nature and intentionality of its CEO (as implied by Will Ferrell’s portrayal in
the film) but because “feminists pressured Mattel back in the seventies and eighties”
(Baumgardner and Richards 2000:196).<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">This fight for
representation is a common refrain in the constant battle of grassroots
movements vs corporations, but especially Mattel. Since the beginning of
Barbie’s history, Mattel has been a roadblock to any kind of change, while at
the same time, vigorously defending its brand with veracious venom. When
co-founder Ruth Handler brought her idea for Barbie to Mattel’s board of
directors, she was rejected by the all-male executives. They, like her
co-founders: Husband Elliott Handler, and Harold Matson, believed that the
common “baby dolls” were what girls really wanted; and the thought of a female
doll as an adult, was ludicrous. But with a redesign by Jack Ryan, the first
Barbie graced the stage at the American International Toy Fair in 1959. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After putting the doll into production, Mattel
defended the brand by buying the rights to the likeness of its inspiration, and
</span><a href="https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2003-dec-23-fi-barbie23-story.html"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">defrauding
the German company in 1964. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">Mattel
would go on to continuously maintain their brand with some of the most
cutthroat legal tactics; “using copyright and trademark law to control the
meaning of Barbie.” (Tushnet 2013: 1).<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">According to Tushnet
(2013) some examples include:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="margin-left: 1in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -0.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">Mattel v. Pitt:</span></i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">
Where a resident of the UK posted altered Barbie photos she called “Dungeon
Dolls” on the internet; Mattel filed in the US in order to subject Pitt to hundreds
of thousands of dollars in damages at the outset.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -0.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">Mattel v.</span></i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"> <i>MCA</i>:
Mattel sued MCA records over Aqua’s song “Barbie Girl” for trademark
infringement. Mattel submitted a 556-person survey to support their claim. This
was a tactic to scare the defendant into compliance. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="margin-left: 1in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -0.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">Mattel v</span></i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">.
<i>Walking Mountain: </i>Mattel sued artist Thomas Forsythe for 78 “Food Chain
Barbie” photos. The two tactics described above were used in tandem in this
case.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">Additional cases include:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="margin-left: 1in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l4 level1 lfo5; text-indent: -0.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">Mattel vs. MGA: </span></i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">Mattel
sued the creator of <i>Bratz </i>dolls for copyright infringement through
corporate espionage claiming that the defendant came up with the idea while
working at Mattel. Being in an out of court has cost both companies millions.
Which, one can infer, is part of the point.<i> </i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="margin-left: 1in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -0.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><a href="https://www.reuters.com/legal/litigation/mattel-ends-trademark-lawsuit-over-nicki-minaj-barbie-que-chips-2022-09-14/"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">Mattel
v</span></i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">.
<i>Rap Snacks</i></span></a><span class="MsoHyperlink"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">:</span></i></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">
In 2022, Rap Snacks launched their Niki Manaj branded “Barbie-Que Honey Truffle
Potato chips- Mattel sued them for copyright infringement.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">Mattel has also sued
these companies over Barbie “representation”:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="margin-left: 1in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -0.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">Producers of <i>In Living Color</i><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -0.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">Producers of Saturday Night Live <i>SNL</i><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -0.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">Greenpeace <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -0.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">The Tonight Show<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -0.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">The Producers of <i>The Simpsons </i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="margin-left: 1in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -0.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">The Barbie liberation Organization <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Baumgardner and
Richards (2000) point out that in the pursuit of maintaining the (seemingly)
holy image of Barbie, the company, Mattel used exploitative labor in China, and
contributed to climate change through the dolls being non-biodegradable. Inevitably,
whether by trademark or trash, Barbie certainly has shaped the cultural
zeitgeist over the last near 70 years.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHqTWbWveqRnCbknOTQeKKnlNFcJ8BvAb62vKebr9MwV-o81_AYlLcPUkMhaaxnjkvcWlYhEmKx1Y2FsNWmrbQKMVk9oZSo5hoqyrkMdRguwuLO5M9xJU_0kzTTd1jme0lDoulwS7yRvsAVS2nPXW_GHIpocW299thil2obT9oWsREKK4U7p2cprvsX1vp/s2400/what-is-criminal-justice-974588-v31-5c115210c9e77c00013ae766.webp" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="2400" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHqTWbWveqRnCbknOTQeKKnlNFcJ8BvAb62vKebr9MwV-o81_AYlLcPUkMhaaxnjkvcWlYhEmKx1Y2FsNWmrbQKMVk9oZSo5hoqyrkMdRguwuLO5M9xJU_0kzTTd1jme0lDoulwS7yRvsAVS2nPXW_GHIpocW299thil2obT9oWsREKK4U7p2cprvsX1vp/w400-h266/what-is-criminal-justice-974588-v31-5c115210c9e77c00013ae766.webp" width="400" /></a></div><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">Barbie as a Cultural Icon <o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Barbie
was so profitable for Mattel that she became the flagship for the entire
industry. With the power of hundreds of million dollars of advertising behind
her, Barbie soon became a cultural icon.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Whether you think that Barbie is salacious or saintly, there is no
denying that she is everywhere. From playsets to vehicles, tv shows and video
games, Barbie penetrated and dominated the girl identified child market and was
foundational in the creation of the “Princess Culture”. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
Princess Culture can be defined as the commercialization of the fantasy
princess narrative identifying the feminized ideas of beauty standards,
physical perfection, and passivity, often as <b>the</b> source of young girl
empowerment (Orenstein 2011). Barbie slid into the Princess culture like a
glass slipper on Cinderella. While Handler wanted Barbie to be an inspiration, providing
girls with careers (and bodies) they could aspire to, all of this was filtered
through the prism of profit. Barbie was then exalted as the amalgamated paragon
of gender and capitalism, a planned perfect hybrid of commodified consumer
driven girlhood.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">With a Pepto-Bismol puke
pink aesthetic, Barbie became the foundation of “girl culture” for a generation
(and then some). Dubbed “Barbiecore” for the uninitiated, this style based upon
the long-limbed plastic idol is a fuchsia fueled femme fashion that </span><a href="https://time.com/6290606/barbiecore-trend-history/"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">has
taken over the industry since the early 2000’s</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">.
Beginning with celebrity fashion figures (many of whom had their own reality show
at the time) and continuing with films like <i>Legally Blonde, Clueless, </i>and
<i>Mean Girls, </i>the foundation was being laid for a carcinogenic carnation
culture. But, in 2015, when known fashion designers started looking to the doll
for inspiration, including the “signature Barbie look” for their seasonal lines,
“Barbiecore” erupted into pop culture on the fingertips of social media
influencers. While the trend slowed a few years later, the recent resurgence is
a regressive response to the bleak blight of COVID-19, and the practice of </span><a href="https://www.harpersbazaar.com/uk/fashion/a36286827/dopamine-dressing/"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">“dopamine
dressing</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">”. This is defined as wearing specific bright and
vibrant colors to improve a person’s mood.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>This psychological effect can also include clothes not just with bright
colors </span><a href="http://karenpine.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/PR-Happiness-its-not-in-the-jeans.pdf"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">but
those of symbolic, social or personal significance to the wearer</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">.
Thus, Barbie, and the “Barbie style”, is now being viewed as a form of escapism
from global strife, climate crises, loss of human rights and body autonomy that
is our daily reality; oblivious to the soft power (gentle) push of popular
culture to influence behaviors.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">Barbie was one of the
first dolls to attempt to be a “total girl”. This is not to be conflated with
being “well rounded” or “holistic”. Instead, Barbie being one of the first
dolls to be a “total girl” meant that she was the first doll to be completely
adorned, head to toe, with accessories and used as a proxy for child consumers to
learn about commercialized and reductive traditional gender stereotypes; particularly
those most vacuous traits that supports vapid spending as a form of gender
expression (Lamb and Brown 2006). From Spa days and Mani-Pedicures to clothes
and a variety of accessories, Barbie became one of the first “role model dolls”
girls could emulate.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And while that
emulation came at an emotional and cultural cost (body image and beauty
standards), it was an economic boon, culminating in 2 billion dollars of profit
annually for Mattel.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">The Barbie and her
likeness became so omnipresent, it not only was subject to infringement but
satire and parody.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Every image of a doll
in popular culture is typically a Barbie. Therefore, any criticism would also invoke
the same image. Whether that be Malibu Stacy facing the ire of Lisa Simpson, or
Angelica’s best friend Cynthia, to Debbie’s Ballerina Barbie villain monologue
in <i>Adams Family Values, </i>they are all recreating and reproducing the same
image regardless of the commentary. Barbie is the sun around which all other dolls
orbit. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The homeostasis of Barbie in our
culture, has allowed it to be both revered and reviled by various feminist
movements throughout history. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgC0A88foJJS6NjjmuvYCky-QufQqk2u0kDxILNRceBnZxFu9XxJnavOhrNdu4vBvkeSy0p7g7hS9iI1yDticn7FXaxf42lm4O1vLGdTS5Sb5UNx-PeCGfB7LapvtEb6dGPlSeiKVvGABT5kNucdsxPwO-JdTdUxfaaso3x6YYkn60qEyydgHMmFn26hiit/s300/cbfyBJGxKGbL6Kg5mFBwwlcLjymysR1HXUMXrFVM7Vk.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="168" data-original-width="300" height="224" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgC0A88foJJS6NjjmuvYCky-QufQqk2u0kDxILNRceBnZxFu9XxJnavOhrNdu4vBvkeSy0p7g7hS9iI1yDticn7FXaxf42lm4O1vLGdTS5Sb5UNx-PeCGfB7LapvtEb6dGPlSeiKVvGABT5kNucdsxPwO-JdTdUxfaaso3x6YYkn60qEyydgHMmFn26hiit/w400-h224/cbfyBJGxKGbL6Kg5mFBwwlcLjymysR1HXUMXrFVM7Vk.jpg" width="400" /></a></span></span></div><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><br /> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">Barbie and the Feminist Movements<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">The ubiquity of “Barbie”
as a concept, product, image, and ideal is understated. Barbie has been both
the heroine and the villain of many people’s collective conscience. Born into a
reforming reality for women, Barbie was both collectively lauded and liable for
its representation(s) of women, depending on which feminist wave women rode
into the continuously patriarchal shoreline.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">Barbie revolutionized the
toy market by not being a “baby”. She is a woman. She is unmarried. She lives
in Malibu, Ca (which means that she has spendable income), and she has held a
variety of occupations which implies education and versatility. This was an interesting
role model for the coming Second wave feminist movement.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Barbie represents both the goals of, and
antithesis for white women of the ‘second wave”. Independence from men, with
career aspirations was the embodiment of what Betty Friedan (1963) called “the
problem that has no name”; the perpetual state of unfulfillment that (usually)
white women find themselves in when they only participate in the assigned roles
of wives and mothers. Socialization at the time, and a variety of other
cultural messages, did not support what Barbie was, even initially.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Yet, this validation of a feminist identity did
not go very far. Not only did Barbie reinforce stereotypes of beauty and body
norms based around the necessity of dresses, make-up, and the importance of
body weight management, but Barbie’s looks were often co-opted into the
traditional gender norms of the revered 1950’s aesthetic, without moving beyond
this rich white perspective. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">By the time third wave
feminism began in 1990, the unrealistic beauty standards of Barbie were well
known. If Barbie were real, her body proportions are so incongruous that she
would instantly die. She would be 5’9 mostly made up of her stick thin legs
that have a heel cord problem (so that she can always be put in heels). Her waist
to bust ratio (at the time<a href="https://d.docs.live.net/bb5a620476910e43/Documents/Sociologists%20Dojo/Barbie%20Review%20.docx#_ftn1" name="_ftnref1" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn1;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[1]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>) was so disproportional
that she wouldn’t be able to hold herself up (not enough muscle definition to
protect her spine). During this time, Mattel complicated their messaging by
doubling down on some blatantly misogynistic rhetoric with an Exercise Barbie
coming with a diet book that just said, “Eat less.” on the back, and when
Barbie was finally given the ability to speak, her first words were: “Math is
Hard.” Also, Barbie dolls have limited range of motion and an inability to hold
anything. Therefore, even if she could have all of the jobs in the world<a href="https://d.docs.live.net/bb5a620476910e43/Documents/Sociologists%20Dojo/Barbie%20Review%20.docx#_ftn2" name="_ftnref2" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn2;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[2]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>, it is not like she could
effectively perform any of them without a cavernous suspension of disbelief
that rivals the Grand Canyon.<a href="https://d.docs.live.net/bb5a620476910e43/Documents/Sociologists%20Dojo/Barbie%20Review%20.docx#_ftn3" name="_ftnref3" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn3;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[3]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a> Barbie had become more of
a problem than a paragon for feminists. Sadly, the third wave movement’s out in
out rejection of the doll, caused many young women to be closeted about their affinity
for it. They were convinced that loving Barbie would exclude them from Feminism
(Baumgardner and Richards 2000: 197). This would change with the rise of “Lipstick
Feminism” in the fourth wave.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Emerging
out of the Third wave and embraced by fourth wave feminism that focuses on the
valuation of individual choice and identity, “Lipstick Feminism” is a type of
feminist expression that sees traditional expressions of femininity as empowering.
Also referred to as “girlie feminism”, this type of feminism embraces (some)
female stereotypes as valid forms of expression through the justification of
women having the agency and autonomy to make the decisions for themselves about
their own identity (Valenti: 2007). Debate has raged about the validity of
self-exploitation in feminist circles. The fundamental question this debate is
pondering is how much autonomy individuals can have in any society that shapes their
understanding of the world through a particular cultural lens. People only
express themselves through the tools that their society gives them. Therefore,
how much autonomy is there? Is there just the illusion of agency? Are these
questions moot given the social construction of reality itself? These are philosophical
questions that keep this debate going into the Fourth wave.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">Considering that the
fourth wave feminism is all about “net feminism” and born out of the feminist
discourse online, it makes since that “Lipstick Feminism” would find its
footing riding this particular wave. Independence, identity, and the internet
allow for feminism and all ideologies to be superficially performative through
social media. Posts, likes, and reposts cultivate an individual’s digital
identity, allowing them to craft a persona that harvests the “best” [read as
most publicly consumable/desirable] parts of themselves to be put on display,
fully aware, ignorant, or ambivalent to the cyclical nature of gender
socialization in which we are both product and producer of healthy and toxic
gender messages simultaneously. Multiple things can exist at the same time, and
this is the landscape under which Greta Gerwig (and Mattel)’s <i>Barbie (2023) </i>was
produced.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center; text-indent: 0.5in;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/zeilrvsQWM0" width="320" youtube-src-id="zeilrvsQWM0"></iframe></div><br /><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">Production<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The road to a Barbie movie was winding.
Beginning in the 1980’s there were several fits, starts and spurts forward before
ultimately petering out.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This current
attempt began in 2016 when Amy Schumer was in negotiations to play the titular
role. But after she left due to creative differences [read as corporate
control], a laundry list of actors was cycled through to replace her. Anne
Hathaway was attached in 2018 when the film rights reverted to Mattel after
Sony’s option expired. At the time, Mattel was amidst a corporate restructuring
of their media division, rebranding as Mattel Films in September of that year. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Once
the rights reverted, Mattel Films’ chief priority was the development and
release of a Barbie live action feature. Robbie Brenner, head of the division,
and Ynon Kreiz would serve as executive producers to promote Mattel’s interests
during production.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>On Jan 7<sup>th</sup>
2019, they announced the Barbie movie with Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling
attached to play Barbie and Ken; both initially landing the roles because of
their “natural” likeness to the characters. After they were signed, Robbie’s
production company, “Lucky Chap”, came on as additional producers. It was
Robbie herself who pitched to Warner Bros to handle distribution, jokingly
suggesting that the film would gross over a billion dollars.<a href="https://d.docs.live.net/bb5a620476910e43/Documents/Sociologists%20Dojo/Barbie%20Review%20.docx#_ftn4" name="_ftnref4" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn4;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[4]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>With
Warner’s distribution secured, Robbie brought on Greta Gerwig to both direct
the film and co-write the script with partner Noah Baumbach in July 2021. Gerwig’s
influences on the film were wide and varied: <i>Reviving Ophelia</i> by Mary
Pipher and the musical films: <i>The Red Shoes </i>and <i>The Umbrellas of
Cherborg</i> were seemingly incongruous as the thematic push for the film. Yet,
Gerwig was confident that the authentic and sincere artificiality of the movie
musical would incorporate nicely with the effects of the social pressures on
teen girls outlined in Pipher’s book.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Gerwig
and several producers were initially skeptical the first draft would be
approved given the heavy amounts of criticism leveled against Mattel; not
understanding that corporations will lean into satire and self-parody if it
improves their bottom line (more on this later).<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">The all-encompassing
nature of the Barbie brand also allowed the producers, and other creators
involved, to draw upon their own experiences with the doll while making the
film. From a key grip and the boom mic operator to the cinematographer and principal
cast, everyone had an experience with Barbie. Gerwig and the producers seized
upon that shared dream/nightmare and wove this collective cultural
consciousness into the tapestry and visual language of the film. Culling stories
and experiences from the crew added to the scripts deconstructive and
ontological outlook; interrogating not only what Barbie is, but what Barbie
means to culture; again, without realizing they are inevitably shaping the
culture with the film’s production and distribution. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><br /></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMbVwywZlicJAzMYZ0SH_3_UCV3LdAP44AR4XCUp8BzfSod24ufsqk1un_wEOu2uNdHGaOIjYUUPt232R8F48a3W6pqL_RXwpuUQ9tRNbbz3ZzFcnODGLOVVoaNvviPgKBKCq_TVzU80K-_ktvQKWjkMwPVaT76BHb2r0L1E9hXcVRwM_apkWAtVQc3w9W/s3000/fkBLa2W.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1680" data-original-width="3000" height="224" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMbVwywZlicJAzMYZ0SH_3_UCV3LdAP44AR4XCUp8BzfSod24ufsqk1un_wEOu2uNdHGaOIjYUUPt232R8F48a3W6pqL_RXwpuUQ9tRNbbz3ZzFcnODGLOVVoaNvviPgKBKCq_TVzU80K-_ktvQKWjkMwPVaT76BHb2r0L1E9hXcVRwM_apkWAtVQc3w9W/w400-h224/fkBLa2W.jpg" width="400" /></a></span></span></div><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><br /> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">Barbenheimer<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The “Barbenheimer” phenomenon came
about due to scheduling the release of both <i>Barbie</i> <i>(2023)</i> and
Christopher Nolan’s </span><a href="http://thesociologistsdojo.blogspot.com/2023/09/the-films-of-christopher-nolan.html"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">Oppenheimer</span></i></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">.
What initially was a film culture middle finger to the British filmmaker, for
the way their relationship ended with Warner Bros. over the HBOMAX deal in
2021, blossomed into a flash in the pan cultural moment, memed and marketed
throughout the entire social media sphere. This cinematic portmanteau was
created in the same vein of celebrity couples and their juxtaposition was
initially set to create competition. Which were audiences going to see, dark
and broody <i>Oppenheimer</i> or brightly effervescent <i>Barbie; </i>often framing
these decisions along traditionally gendered lines. Yet, as the culture
embraced and formed around these two films, it became less about which <b>one </b>a
person was going to go see, but which one first. The common ignorant assumption
was that audiences should take the heaviest film first, <i>Oppenheimer, </i>and
then “chase” that heaviness with a fun fuchsia filled frolic to “Barbieland”.
While Oppenheimer was the expected slog of drudgery through the worst of
masculinity, and more broadly, humanity;<i> Barbie</i>’s existential crisis
plot and feminist overtones surprised many moviegoers as being far more deep
than anyone in the public expected. Yet, with each screening, for the first
time in decades Barbie was once again, associated positively with Feminism.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/gqeTb0j2nr4" width="320" youtube-src-id="gqeTb0j2nr4"></iframe></span></div><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">SOCIAL ANALYSIS <o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“I’m not a
Fascist. I don’t control the railways, or the means of production.” Stereotypical
Barbie <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">The Feminism of Barbie: A Dolls Dilemma</span></i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></i>When Barbie was created it broke the glass
ceiling of the toy industry. Suddenly, girls could start to see a life past the
roles of mothers; and while she revolutionized the understandings of the Second
Wave Feminists, being beyond what a White Heterosexist Patriarchy told women
they could be, they also fell into a lot of sexist traps and reinforced toxic
ideas of beauty and body identity. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The
Barbie doll itself was culturally valued and traded on </span><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Erotic-Capital-Attraction-Boardroom-Bedroom/dp/0465027474"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">Erotic
Capital</span></b></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">. This is defined as </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">the value of an individual based on their ability to subscribe to, and
achieve, socio-historic and cultural beauty and body norms in the eyes of
others. Women have been taught to use their erotic capital as a tactic to
access resources and power which are usually barred from them (primarily by
white men). Women are taught to establish confidence only through their erotic
capital, and from that erotic capital, more access and power shall flow.<a href="https://d.docs.live.net/bb5a620476910e43/Documents/Sociologists%20Dojo/Barbie%20Review%20.docx#_ftn5" name="_ftnref5" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn5;" title=""><sup><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><sup><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">[5]</span></sup><!--[endif]--></span></sup></a>
Barbie, for generations, has been a focal point in the traditional gendered
terrorism that is body shaming. The resulting poor body image may lead to
dangerous body practices in order to achieve this mythologized ideal. Such
practices include: unhealthy eating habits, eating disorders, unnecessary
surgeries, depression, and attempted suicide.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"> <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>According
to Naomi Wolf (1991), beauty does not objectively or universally exist.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What is considered beautiful in one culture
(look at Hawaiians) is not the same in another (the <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Congo</st1:place></st1:country-region>).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Therefore, the idea of beauty being about
women, attraction, and about appearance in general <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">is a myth. </b>Instead, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Beauty </b>is
a currency, an element of an economic system determined by politics in the
modern age (Wolf 1991: 12).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Thus, the
beauty myth that is created is a way to reinforce men’s and institution’s <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">power.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span></b>This beauty myth allows for a woman’s advancement in the hierarchy
to be controlled by her appearance. This is what Wolf (1991) calls<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"> The Iron Maiden, </b><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">the process of how c</span>ontemporary
culture directs attention to the ideal body, in this case Barbie, meanwhile
censoring other women’s faces and bodies.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Being ensnared in this trap, women
have become bewitched by this beauty myth.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>They either participate in their own objectification, or rage against it
in utter defiance, with Barbie being the closest, and easiest target. While third
wave feminists raged, many women kowtowed to their incandescently pink idol. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><a href="https://www.gq.com/story/valeria-lukyanova-human-barbie-doll"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Valeria Lukyanova</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"> a Russian Model and influencer, has been
dubbed “the Human Barbie” in the media, as being of the body shape and style
that “most closely resembles” Barbie. Yet, this was a look that was not
naturally obtained as critics of the Barbie doll have been repeating for
decades. Lukyanova wears colored contacts, has had breast augmentation surgery,
goes to the gym daily, lives on a raw vegan liquid diet and believes in </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inedia"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">breatharianism</span></a><span class="MsoHyperlink"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">:</span></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"> the idea that a person does
not need food or water to live<a href="https://d.docs.live.net/bb5a620476910e43/Documents/Sociologists%20Dojo/Barbie%20Review%20.docx#_ftn6" name="_ftnref6" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn6;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">[6]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>.
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is a body that is only possible
under the conditions of wealth, status, privilege, and a devotion to dangerous
ideologies. Thanks, Barbie.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Additionally, beauty and body image has not been the only controversy
that has had Barbie at its center. There have been several dolls that have been
discontinued due to their cultural and social insensitivity. The 2023 film
mentions some of the more innocuous discontinued dolls, like the Pregnant
Midge, Grown-up Skipper, Media Barbie, and Sugar Daddy Ken. What they strategically
left out was the truly offensive dolls, such as: black-faced Oreo Barbie Tie
in, and “Share a Smile Becky”, the toy line’s first attempt at a Doll in a
wheelchair. They were all discontinued and quietly swept under the rug, never
to be mentioned again. But the overall impact is farther than their placement
on store shelves. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyD1bjZK1f1OcydVsppLlc9ICzxRjdXRCDBU1XlQqmwFa33OOeIPFDc25BqpOveuNlFOTilYn0Cjg4N-6X3oiWR-5sRTlrj4qUkg6LvBXSFZg5s0I89Fhdf8hfdw5iK2s6uoxeopmrFc-KXS_J5ePUO3rbQzirvWxXpVosjIPca43d4ihc1z9sxbsT7cpG/s1200/2237173-warriors_of_the_wind_vhs_cover_by_kevinbolk.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="1200" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyD1bjZK1f1OcydVsppLlc9ICzxRjdXRCDBU1XlQqmwFa33OOeIPFDc25BqpOveuNlFOTilYn0Cjg4N-6X3oiWR-5sRTlrj4qUkg6LvBXSFZg5s0I89Fhdf8hfdw5iK2s6uoxeopmrFc-KXS_J5ePUO3rbQzirvWxXpVosjIPca43d4ihc1z9sxbsT7cpG/w400-h266/2237173-warriors_of_the_wind_vhs_cover_by_kevinbolk.jpeg" width="400" /></a></span></span></div><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /></span></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p></o:p></span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">The Feminism of Barbie (2023): A
Misunderstanding of Power <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">Whereas the feminism of Barbie,
the doll, has always vacillated between problematic ally and “part of the
problem”; the film adaptation wears its feminism on its chorally colored
diamond encrusted sleeve. Fully embracing the “Lipstick Feminism” of the third
wave, Stereotypical Barbie (Margot Robbie) and the rest of the Barbie’s of “Barbieland”,
exposit a fem-fueled synergy between gender and power; an imagining of this
confluence without the influence of the patriarchy, either as a shield or riposte.
This is difficult to consider because there has been a plethora of examples of the
Patriarchy/Feminism dichotomy in both reality and popular culture, but usually
positioned to be in response to each other, especially around the understanding
of power.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">The conception of power
is typically gendered male and seen as a masculine trait. Because a majority of
examples of how to wield power has been exclusively masculine for generations,
when women exercise power, their understanding of it is still through a masculine
lens, ultimately reproducing power as something masculine even if women are the
couriers. We see this happen when single mothers reinforce toxic and harmful forms
of masculinity in their sons, or when women in positions of power, imitate the
posturing of men because the structure is infused with a culture of misogyny.
Therefore, women in power double down on this expression of power rather than
dispossess it (hooks 2000). <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Often referred to as “</span><a href="http://thesociologistsdojo.blogspot.com/2022/07/when-gender-socializationmet-romantic.html"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">The
Patriarchal Bargain”</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"> where women promote masculine
understandings of the world, in order to glean some favor, status and/or wealth
from the men that they support, has become, in several instances, a survival
tactic to exist within patriarchy. Marriage, Childbearing, Faining ignorance, to
even false laughter are all the bars on the gilded cage of women who promote
patriarchy. And yet, “women cannot gain much power on the terms set by the
existence of the social structure without undermining the struggle to end
sexist oppression” (hooks 2000:86). <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">Barbie as a doll, and by
extension the Barbie characters themselves,<a href="https://d.docs.live.net/bb5a620476910e43/Documents/Sociologists%20Dojo/Barbie%20Review%20.docx#_ftn7" name="_ftnref7" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn7;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[7]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a> are still part of the
patriarchal system as either a mechanism (the doll) or its proxy (the film).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Because we understand power through a
masculine lens, power, no matter who wields it, is still dominating or
controlling others. “[Simply] obtaining power in an existing social structure
will [not] necessarily advance feminist struggle to end sexist oppression”
(hooks 2000:92). The irony is that even though the “realm” of “Barbieland” did
not have any notion or conception of Patriarchal power (until Ken came to the
real world), it was still a response to patriarchy as a fantasy feminist mirror
for young girls. Therefore, their structures and dynamics are still influenced
and ruled by a patriarchal understanding of power. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQE-k4gGxaUXgo923M4ATVR5OHX1Q8L_EQPKqf-WXsXcqVshyouS8Vn-0slOmbcM9Pmt1UOV8EjtlXX3PYekUn8mBpfFb1VU74WqBTAhjlj9Plpus5y_f3mXiDgL-fcvGbK6xrY0e1eE2iYA8HHXUuQPrJpZIXWmEAZZaAdfXS9RkCQtTXrWqQsFS1v8tE/s2000/c33454f25081d30f6450081812864995.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="995" data-original-width="2000" height="199" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQE-k4gGxaUXgo923M4ATVR5OHX1Q8L_EQPKqf-WXsXcqVshyouS8Vn-0slOmbcM9Pmt1UOV8EjtlXX3PYekUn8mBpfFb1VU74WqBTAhjlj9Plpus5y_f3mXiDgL-fcvGbK6xrY0e1eE2iYA8HHXUuQPrJpZIXWmEAZZaAdfXS9RkCQtTXrWqQsFS1v8tE/w400-h199/c33454f25081d30f6450081812864995.jpg" width="400" /></a></span></span></div><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><br /></span><o:p></o:p></span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">The Feminism of Barbie (2023): Ken’s
Journey <o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">“I am Kenough.”- </span></i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">Script
on a Ken Hoodie <i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></i><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">Because Barbie, the doll,
was a response to the existence of girls in the patriarchy (in the real world),
itself emanating with their own traditional gender messages, the “egalitarian”
feminist Utopia in “Barbieland,” in the film, does not consider men, and therefore
subjugates “the Kens.” At the beginning of the film, it is stated that every
day is a good day for Barbie, but Ken only has a good day if Barbie looks at
him. In fact, Ken doesn’t know who he is without Barbie. Here the film is
invoking general masculine socialization that teaches boys/men to forgo any
introspection and due to pejorative patriarchal power dynamics, find themselves
in a state of perpetual arrested development, outsourcing their emotional labor
to their partner or spouse. Ken, like all real men, is trapped in the cage of
toxic masculinity even before learning about patriarchy’s power. This is
illustrated in the relationship/rivalry between “Beach” Ken (Ryan Gosling) and Tourist
Ken (Simu Liu). Both men, in a series of escalating actions, vie for
Stereotypical Barbie’s attention because they do not know who they are without
her. This lack of identity mirrors the horrors of defining femininity through a
patriarchal system, much like “the problem that has no name.” (Freidan 1963). The
Kens do not have an identity outside of the ones the Barbies give to them. This
void is unfortunately filled with the toxic sludge of masculine domination. Albeit
oversimplified and misunderstood, the consequences are all too similar.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">Toxic Masculinity in <i>Barbie
(2023) </i>is analogized as a virus, compared to the reaction native peoples
had to smallpox, the Kens having equally no defense. Almost instantly, the Kens
adopt an air of superiority, and through this newfound sense of masculine entitlement,
subjugate the Barbies through a series of micro-aggressive tactics including
gaslighting, and victim blaming. The Barbies are then swept up in its undertow
and begin to act out this sense of subservience; first as a compulsion, then as
a weaponized tactic. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">Once the Barbie’s are “deprogrammed”
from the effects of this toxicity, the subterfuge that they employ to gain
their power back is through a reinforcement of gendered practices that play on
the insecurities of men under patriarchy; ultimately leading to violence. Yet,
as the Barbie’s look on as the “War of the Kens” rages in front of them, the
Barbies have an expression of both triumph and judgmental pity without a hint
of remorse. Instead, they see this as a necessary distraction to put right,
what the Ken’s broke. However, once reformed, “Barbieland” is not the image of
a fantastical female centered utopia perceived at the beginning of the film;
but a world that exists as an inverse of our own, where it’s assumed men will
slowly march toward equality with the same pace and struggle as women in the
real world.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">Considering this
resolution, and the structure of the film, is there any surprise that douche
bag right wing commentators and Nazi sympathizers feel vindicated in their
false claims of Feminism’s misandry? The ending of the film plays on all of
these beta male sexist worst fears: the fear of power loss, and the fear of a
lack of identity, because they only see feminine power as an affront to them. When
the reality is that the acquiescence of women to men in our society is a
defense mechanism born from generations of men in positions of authority, flexing
that power through various forms of direct, personal, structural, and symbolic
forms of violence (Bourdieu 1998). The tragic irony of course being that most
of that violence is motivated by the fear instilled in men through toxic
masculinity, revolving around the fear of the loss of cisgenered female
attention; ultimately keeping men in a state of dependency on women. For a lot
of men, that dependency moves far beyond their outsourcing of emotional labor,
but to the relinquishing of basic behaviors of human survival such as: the
basics of cooking and cleaning, life organization, and time management. Therefore,
it is only through the oppression of and reliance on women, that many men can
call themselves “independent”. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqByjGvL6Q7iAKveR3Uoi47zZd0ho-TWYR78Xd9OTJ58ifUxLn9kDguXTa8bhhmc248fdSimqgSrY7W52C2YgWka2nlh_joyLNaeMEudDWEquA7Z3ZN64nVYQc_K9deHeRgYZOH2WJcLipyPmxbYSUdX3BXpxBiiKhenquABp90CnGR9YWtP8TpELMFvw-/s1400/th%20(1).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1400" data-original-width="1400" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqByjGvL6Q7iAKveR3Uoi47zZd0ho-TWYR78Xd9OTJ58ifUxLn9kDguXTa8bhhmc248fdSimqgSrY7W52C2YgWka2nlh_joyLNaeMEudDWEquA7Z3ZN64nVYQc_K9deHeRgYZOH2WJcLipyPmxbYSUdX3BXpxBiiKhenquABp90CnGR9YWtP8TpELMFvw-/w400-h400/th%20(1).jpg" width="400" /></a></span></span></div><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div></span><o:p></o:p></span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">The Feminism of Barbie (2023): It’s Still
a Product. <o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">“If you Love Barbie, this movie is for
you. If you Hate Barbie, this Movie is for you.”-</span></i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">film’s
tagline.<i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></i></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">Because there is no
ethical consumption under capitalism, everything can be commodified, including
ideologies (Marx 1992).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Regularly,
ideals about honor, love, masculinity, and political affiliation are
personified into products. Consumers believe that if they buy a certain product,
they are supporting the ideology that it represents and vice versa.<a href="https://d.docs.live.net/bb5a620476910e43/Documents/Sociologists%20Dojo/Barbie%20Review%20.docx#_ftn8" name="_ftnref8" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn8;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[8]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a> Unfortunately, </span><a href="https://www.vox.com/the-goods/2019/10/7/20894134/consumer-activism-conscious-consumerism-explained"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">when
you ensnare consumerism with ideological expression</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">,
that minimizes other forms of activism because people assume that they are
doing enough through their consumer choices. Secondly, this form of consumer
activism is pro-capitalist because it does nothing to curb consumption.
Therefore, ideological marketing has now become a legitimate business tactic.
Companies routinely tout both their company’s egalitarian and eco-friendly
structure, organization and practices while promising that their products will satisfy
emotional longing or existential dread. Nostalgia marketing works because,
through the purchase of a product, consumers can relive experiences of
childhood, a time that was often simpler and easier (especially if you are
marketing to middle class white people). The same happens to political
ideologies like Feminism.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">Mattel, “the Barbiecore”
and Ruth Handler herself, would have you believe that the creation of the doll,
and its impact on culture, has always been positive and that feminism was
always a core value of the Barbie brand. The current Barbie doll tagline is “We
are Barbie.” A pure pink model of feminist inclusivity. Yet, all these gains
had to be negotiated, fought for and wrestled away from the grips of the
powerful (usually rich white men) and only when said change was deemed
profitable, would the company acquiesce. This often sours the taste of these victories
and tempers the steel of social justice.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">According to Andi Zeisler
(2016), Feminism, like a lot of ideologies, has become sellable. In addition to
its political activism, products posit Feminism “as a cool, fun accessible
identity…it is this feminism that trades on the simple themes of sisterhood and
support, you go-girl tweets and Instagram photos…[this] feel-good feminism pulls
focus away from deeply entrenched forms of inequality…[transforming] a
collective goal, into a consumer brand,” (xii, xv). Zeisler (2016) calls this <b>Marketplace
Feminism:</b> a version of the movement that is the most media friendly and
centers around heterosexual relationships, marriage, economic success and one
that doesn’t challenge existing capitalist structures (xv). <i>Barbie (2023)</i>
epitomizes this, its performative bubble gum form of Feminism is the marketing
tool. <b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">Barbie (2023)</span></i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">
is more than a product; it is a marketing tie-in with the doll that came before
it. The existence of the film is based on the whims of those that hold its film
rights; and they only see the world in terms of economic gains, losses, and
their own branding image. This is personified in the film by the representation
of Mattel and the minimization of its own product’s criticism. When we first
see the board room at Mattel, it, like Barbieland, is ensconced in pink yet
juxtaposed with a collection of men in dark suits sitting around a table. At
the head is its nameless CEO (Will Ferrel) that gives off more of a lovable oaf,
rather than corporate shark; even when the latter is more believable given the litigiousness
of the company. This inaccuracy feels like a studio note. As if some executive said:
“It is ok to take light jabs at how many women at Mattel have been CEO, but we shouldn’t
portray ourselves as immorally avarice.” The film does play with the tone of
this representation, having the character discuss getting into the business to
help girls achieve their dreams, but folds to capitalism the minute an idea he dismisses
becomes profitable. Like Marketplace Feminism, this buffoonery softens the
edges of the capitalistic corporate culture making it more palatable and less likely
to change.<a href="https://d.docs.live.net/bb5a620476910e43/Documents/Sociologists%20Dojo/Barbie%20Review%20.docx#_ftn9" name="_ftnref9" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn9;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[9]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">Another decision that
deflates the feminist message into a more digestible and popular form is the
choice to minimize the criticism of the Barbie doll itself. Rather than spend
some time interrogating the legitimate criticisms surrounding the Barbie doll:
deconstructing the issues of body shame, body dysmorphia, and its contribution
to eating disorders, the film decides to synthesize that into a single angst
filled monologue, given by a teenager. The source of this cogent rant, and its
recipient, in the context of the story, undermines the criticism’s viability.
Firstly, Stereotypical Barbie is our likable protagonist, we are designed to be
on her side. Therefore, when her naivete is obliterated by Sasha, and she
begins to cry, we cast Sasha as the one with the problem. Secondly, having the
criticism of Barbie be presented by a child ultimately casts their opinions a
sophomoric, and thus unreliable. This is supported, and later confirmed in the film,
when Sasha tells Gloria (America Ferrera) she thinks that Barbie is “Cool”. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Again, this film is allowed to be Feminist,
but only in ways that don’t disrupt the brand.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></i></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUus0r2R4PBmVfCiw5w25G1MDdTQfR5n-h9sNzgt0ngiCe7gFSesBeLt1VAi5NP15nkE_56GpHFPT_zgqqPuS8qz5SuEAr9EOFdUCo1OHzXEZuN3AzT-gn7yQi5Md-gnpnWgCZQP6NRi4k4yZ-Cjg7YQSX4Bu0ltGu48jDYHS_z6XQUlwSEPqUwXZonVh6/s1600/nausicaa-578x801.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="899" data-original-width="1600" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUus0r2R4PBmVfCiw5w25G1MDdTQfR5n-h9sNzgt0ngiCe7gFSesBeLt1VAi5NP15nkE_56GpHFPT_zgqqPuS8qz5SuEAr9EOFdUCo1OHzXEZuN3AzT-gn7yQi5Md-gnpnWgCZQP6NRi4k4yZ-Cjg7YQSX4Bu0ltGu48jDYHS_z6XQUlwSEPqUwXZonVh6/w400-h225/nausicaa-578x801.jpg" width="400" /></a></span></i></div><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /></span></i><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">The Feminism of Barbie (2023) A
Problematic Epiphany <o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">“By giving voice to the cognitive dissonance of being
a woman under the patriarchy, you’ve robbed it of its power.”- Stereotypical
Barbie<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">While <i>Barbie </i>(2023)
does wear its (feminist) heart on its sleeve, being a gloriously and
unapologetically pro-pink “girly girl culture” form of feminism, it also falls
short to carry the nuances of and struggles for women’s rights and its
diversity of voices and interests. Granted, this is partly due to the delivery
system of these messages. As noted above, Feminism, filtered through the
pro-capitalist corporate structure, is a diluted facsimile of itself. Even if
it is one of the most popular, mainstream, corporate approved piece of feminist
pop culture, there is always a cost.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>For <i>Barbie (2023)</i>, that cost comes in its delivery
of its central messaging and its own self-criticism. The above quote is the
synthesis of Gloria’s intense monologue of what it is like being a woman under patriarchy.
Which, while pointed and true, does not acknowledge some of the systemic
problems of masculine domination and its effects on individual women’s lives,
even if the film constantly invokes “patriarchy”. The film fails to acknowledge
that it is potentially lethal to not teach girls and women strategies to
navigate the dangers of masculine rule under patriarchy in the way that Gloria
describes; given the long history of male violence against women. Sure, when
Stereotypical Barbie goes into our world, she gives voice to the “undertone of
violence” that comes with female sexualization and objectification, but it goes
nowhere. Instead, it is presented as just an eerily salient joke. Thus, the way
that patriarchy is used here, is as a catch all, a generalized anti-feminist boogeyman,
rather than something that needs to be truly feared. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Additionally, the film also peddles in mixed
messaging regarding body rights and body autonomy for women. On the one hand,
Stereotypical Barbie punches a man for sexually assaulting her. But at the same
time, Stereotypical Barbie is also the only Barbie that gets to become human.
This reinforces the sexist propaganda that girls can achieve the body ideal and
be the fantasy, because human Stereotypical Barbie looks the same as she did when
she was a doll…still played by Margot Robbie. This point is even called out
earlier in the film when Stereotypical Barbie, in the thralls of her
existential crisis, says that she is not good enough or pretty. The film
literally grinds to a halt (the image stops) and narrator Hellen Mirren says,
“Note to Filmmakers: Margot Robbie is the wrong person to cast if you want to
make this point.” (Gerwig 2023). The filmmakers are obviously aware of this
mixed messaging, they are just trying to have their proverbial cake and eat it
too. Furthermore, the movie also does not want to bring attention to the
abysmal reality of the current body rights for women. There is no mention of
the repeal of Roe v Wade, or its repercussions it has on women’s lives. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is a glaring omission considering that
the film ends with (the now real) Stereotypical Barbie, going to her first
gynecological appointment. It is both tonally inconsistent, and insulting. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">Moreover, the film talks
about women like they are a Monolith, a singular entity under which they all
find shade. In an homage to Kubrick’s <i>2001 A Space Odyssey</i> at the
beginning of the film, Margot Robbie’s Stereotypical Barbie, is literally the
obelisk<i> </i>all the other girls worship. This fills the film with whiteness
and the flavors of white feminism. Regardless of the diverse cast, which itself
feels like a garnish, with each character being a “token” type of Barbie, (thinly
veiled by identifying them by their occupations) this is a very white story. The
irony is that “Stereotypical Barbie” [read as: White Barbie] is either never
given a job (which speaks to the classist white privilege of the dolls origin)
or can have all the jobs (which again alludes to white supremacy) making her
even more out of touch with the audience. Yet, she is the one that goes on the adventure.
The omission of the issues that are unique to women by race, class, disability,
sexuality, and culture, reinforces the salient point that solidarity is only
for white women (Kendall 2020). Thus, this film is allowed to be feminist, as
long as a white woman is at its center. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Therefore,
Gloria’s statement about the experiences of women under the patriarchy is an
act of solidarity (under white feminism) rather than a call to action. The line
delivery is less about motivation and reads more like quiet reservation and
acceptance. Because how can you rob something of its power if you have done
nothing to change the structures and systems that fuel it? You can’t; and even
though the Barbie’s collectively decouple Ken’s version of patriarchy from the
institutions of power, that dissonance is still presented as inherit and
necessary in the real world <b>and</b> “Barbieland” moving forward.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJ9IPan2kCgfZTOrEkTn7pd5NxUZuQTruDTBNPd7OdFI57_kof0Njltim7H1e9KxyZjLOu_SYa7m3IEAJ6nsBufm0R6DJVBaRyTK_TRmzZUdeGSyJXvxZiM9OBH40QxRTP_fQbVaXkVXqcTM602iVNWVoreF0B94YXNScKi2f_F174g5_sG-FcXxGaK1t6/s5000/Untitled-800x400.webp" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="5000" data-original-width="2250" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJ9IPan2kCgfZTOrEkTn7pd5NxUZuQTruDTBNPd7OdFI57_kof0Njltim7H1e9KxyZjLOu_SYa7m3IEAJ6nsBufm0R6DJVBaRyTK_TRmzZUdeGSyJXvxZiM9OBH40QxRTP_fQbVaXkVXqcTM602iVNWVoreF0B94YXNScKi2f_F174g5_sG-FcXxGaK1t6/w180-h400/Untitled-800x400.webp" width="180" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">CONCLUSION <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span></span></b><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">Barbie
</span></i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">(2023)
is a well-made film with watered-down feminist rhetoric to be publicly
palatable. It is a marketing tool for the profitability of its source material
“The Barbie doll” and an example of Marketplace Feminism. It’s critique of
masculinity is strong, but it does not disentangle masculinity from the ideas
of power, nor give any feminist rally cry beyond superfluous (white) solidarity.
These shortcomings and problematic messages ultimately transform a pink infused
concentration of “Lipstick- Feminism” into the blandest mass market lemonade. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">REFERENCES<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: 0.5in; text-indent: -0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt;">Baumgardner,
Jennifer and Amy Richards 2000. <i>Manifesta: young women, feminism and the
future </i>New York: <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Farrer Strauss Giroux<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: 0.5in; text-indent: -0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt;">Bourdieu, Pierre
1998. <i>Masculine Domination </i>Standford: Standford University Press<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: 0.5in; text-indent: -0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt;">Freidan, Betty
1963. <i>The Feminine Mystique </i>New York: WW Norton and Company <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: 0.5in; text-indent: -0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt;">Gerwig, Greta 2023.
<i>Barbie</i> Los Angeles. Warner Bros Studios <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: 0.5in; text-indent: -0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt;">Hooks, bell 2000. <i>Feminist
Theory: From Magin to Center </i>2<sup>nd</sup> edition. Cambridge, South End Press<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: 0.5in; text-indent: -0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt;">Kendall, Mikki
2020. <i>Hood Feminism: Notes from the Women a Movement Forgot</i> New York:
Viking Press <i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></i></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: 0.5in; text-indent: -0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt;">Lamb, Sharon and
Lyn Mike Brown 2006. <i>Packaging Girlhood: Rescuing Our Daughters from
Marketers’ Schemes</i> New York: St. Martian’s Griffin Publishing<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: 0.5in; text-indent: -0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt;">Marx, Karl 1992. <i>Capital:
A Critique of Political Economy Vol 1</i> New York: Penguin Classics <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: 0.5in; text-indent: -0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt;">Orenstein, Peggy
2011. <i>Cinderella Ate My Daughter: Dispatches From the Front Lines of the New
Girlie-Girl Culture </i>New York: Harper Publishing <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: 0.5in; text-indent: -0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Tushnet, Rebecca, 2013. "Make Me Walk,
Make Me Talk, Do Whatever You Please: Barbie and Exceptions" in <i>Georgetown
Law Faculty Publications and Other Works</i>. Retrieved on 9/29/2023 Retrieved
at </span><a href="https://scholarship.law.georgetown.edu/facpub/1228/"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt;">https://scholarship.law.georgetown.edu/facpub/1228/</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt;"> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: 0.5in; text-indent: -0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt;">Valenti, Jessica
2007<i>.</i></span><i> </i><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt;">Full
Frontal Feminism: A Young Woman s Guide to Why Feminism Matters</span></i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt;"> New York: Seal
Press <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: 0.5in; text-indent: -0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt;">Wolf, Naomi 1991. <i>The
Beauty Myth: How Images of Beauty Are Used Against Women </i>New York: William
Morrow and Company <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: 0.5in; text-indent: -0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt;">Zeisler, Andi
2016. <i>We Were Feminists Once: From Riot Girrl to Covergirl, the Buying and
Selling of a Political Movement </i>New York: Public Affairs<i> <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></i></span></p>
<div style="mso-element: footnote-list;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><br clear="all" />
<hr align="left" size="1" width="33%" />
<!--[endif]-->
<div id="ftn1" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<p class="MsoFootnoteText"><a href="https://d.docs.live.net/bb5a620476910e43/Documents/Sociologists%20Dojo/Barbie%20Review%20.docx#_ftnref1" name="_ftn1" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn1;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[1]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
Though its still not great, even today.<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="ftn2" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<p class="MsoFootnoteText"><a href="https://d.docs.live.net/bb5a620476910e43/Documents/Sociologists%20Dojo/Barbie%20Review%20.docx#_ftnref2" name="_ftn2" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn2;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[2]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
Lifestyle and career choices that were imposed upon her as a particular product
<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="ftn3" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<p class="MsoFootnoteText"><a href="https://d.docs.live.net/bb5a620476910e43/Documents/Sociologists%20Dojo/Barbie%20Review%20.docx#_ftnref3" name="_ftn3" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn3;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[3]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
This could be why Barbie is still marketed to children ages 6-12, when your
imagination is both open and vast. <o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="ftn4" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<p class="MsoFootnoteText"><a href="https://d.docs.live.net/bb5a620476910e43/Documents/Sociologists%20Dojo/Barbie%20Review%20.docx#_ftnref4" name="_ftn4" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn4;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[4]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
The movie went on to make 1.4 billion upon its initial domestic and
international release <o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="ftn5" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<p class="MsoFootnoteText"><a href="https://d.docs.live.net/bb5a620476910e43/Documents/Sociologists%20Dojo/Barbie%20Review%20.docx#_ftnref5" name="_ftn5" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn5;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[5]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a> <a href="https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/what-the-ideal-womans-body-looks-like-in-18-countries_us_55ccd2a6e4b064d5910ac3b0">https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/what-the-ideal-womans-body-looks-like-in-18-countries_us_55ccd2a6e4b064d5910ac3b0</a>
<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="ftn6" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<p class="MsoFootnoteText"><a href="https://d.docs.live.net/bb5a620476910e43/Documents/Sociologists%20Dojo/Barbie%20Review%20.docx#_ftnref6" name="_ftn6" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn6;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[6]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
Side not she is also Pro Russa in the war against Ukraine and does not believe
in Race Mixing<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="ftn7" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<p class="MsoFootnoteText"><a href="https://d.docs.live.net/bb5a620476910e43/Documents/Sociologists%20Dojo/Barbie%20Review%20.docx#_ftnref7" name="_ftn7" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn7;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[7]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
Most every female character in Barbieland is named “Barbie”<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="ftn8" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<p class="MsoFootnoteText"><a href="https://d.docs.live.net/bb5a620476910e43/Documents/Sociologists%20Dojo/Barbie%20Review%20.docx#_ftnref8" name="_ftn8" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn8;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[8]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
Think of the Right Wing Boycott of Bud Light because they decided to Support
Gay and Trans rights <o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="ftn9" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<p class="MsoFootnoteText"><a href="https://d.docs.live.net/bb5a620476910e43/Documents/Sociologists%20Dojo/Barbie%20Review%20.docx#_ftnref9" name="_ftn9" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn9;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[9]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a> It
should also be noted that the lesson Mattel is learning from <i>Barbie (2023)</i>’s
success is not that more films need to be directed by women for women, while
also being nuanced and make interesting choices, But, rather A. There needs to
be a sequel, and B. More of their products can make money through film
adaptations. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
</div><br /><p></p>Brian Brutlaghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08099644007940320266noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8714941782515128558.post-14563000439593595662023-09-03T16:20:00.002-07:002023-09-03T16:20:42.043-07:00The Films of Christopher Nolan: Oppenheimer <p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWnbx-mmBfajMOuUCTXrOj5VO7bW9LnOhAKF49Xv77lXnRRuqbk8nJyqVfxvRK9O7kXt6diw34NIqsLmNBRweRi7RnNQfVaxYj8EBejyYS5hb56n7fFOYBt2POGy6KKS76JM_R9hQmbkt3d5O7m8DJiy1Z_DEY-20eXQsMZCnWXXKk4eMLuxE9bLV2Doap/s2913/B9lSVCGIAAM7LCK.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2913" data-original-width="1920" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWnbx-mmBfajMOuUCTXrOj5VO7bW9LnOhAKF49Xv77lXnRRuqbk8nJyqVfxvRK9O7kXt6diw34NIqsLmNBRweRi7RnNQfVaxYj8EBejyYS5hb56n7fFOYBt2POGy6KKS76JM_R9hQmbkt3d5O7m8DJiy1Z_DEY-20eXQsMZCnWXXKk4eMLuxE9bLV2Doap/w264-h400/B9lSVCGIAAM7LCK.jpg" width="264" /></a></div><p style="text-align: center;"><br /></p><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The 12<sup>th</sup> film
in my continuing analysis of The Films of Christopher Nolan, is the WWII biopic
<i>Oppenheimer</i>. Still reeling from his inability to “save cinema” with the
release of his previous venture, <i>Tenet, </i>Nolan is given another bite at
the apple from Universal Pictures, after he burned the Warner bros bridge
because of HBOMAX (Now just Max *eye roll).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Rather than have any kind of clear or compelling understanding of
history, the audience for <i>Oppenheimer </i>is treated to a well shot, overly
edited piece of Pro War disjointed propaganda that has nothing to say about
morality and genocide, while still treating his female characters as two-dimensional
fridge victims despite their real-world accomplishments. This film is a love
letter to those white male dads who got into WWII when they became parents,
thoroughly validating their overinflated sense of nationalism. For the rest of
us, or those of us that don’t exalt that identity, <i>Oppenheimer</i> is an
arduously long, repetitive slog into the worst parts of humanity and
masculinity, while reveling in its self-delusion of nuanced benevolence.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/bK6ldnjE3Y0" width="320" youtube-src-id="bK6ldnjE3Y0"></iframe></div><br /><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">PLOT<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">After experiencing
anxiety over performing lab work, doctoral student J. Robert Oppenheimer pivots
to theoretical physics, where he eventually achieves a Ph.D. Later in 1941, he
is tasked by the United States Army to enter a nuclear Arms race with Nazi
Germany. The successful test and use of the Atomic Bomb causes public backlash
resulting in Oppenheimer being subjected to a political and judicial inquiry where
a lot of his personal foibles, infidelity and political ties are revealed to discredit
him.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">HISTORICAL CONTEXT<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span></span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Based
on the book <i>American Prometheus</i> by Kai Bird and Martin Shewin, Nolan’s
script seems to be historically accurate in broad strokes and faithful to its
source material, minus some dramatic license in its narrative. What is more
alarming is not the minor inaccuracies of who said what when, or where
someone’s hand placement was, it is what this film leaves out.<a href="https://d.docs.live.net/bb5a620476910e43/Documents/Sociologists%20Dojo/Oppenheimer%20Review%20.docx#_ftn1" name="_ftnref1" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn1;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[1]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a> There is little to no
mention of the effect the events of the film had on other people; especially those
living in the area where the Los Alamos Laboratory was built, and the literal
fallout of the Trinity test itself.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span></span><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/30/opinion/international-world/oppenheimer-nuclear-bomb-cancer.html"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Tina
Cordova’s article</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"> in The New York Times elucidates the
vacuous absence of the direct consequences of the US development of nuclear
weapons in Nolan’s film. There is no mention on the razing of farmers land in
the region to build the laboratory and mine uranium through eminent domain, the
government’s ability to take private property for public use. Cordova also
points out that there were 13,000 people living within a 50-mile radius when
the nuclear test was conducted, who are still waiting to be recognized and
compensated through the Radiation Exposer Compensation Act set to expire in
2024. </span><a href="https://thebulletin.org/2023/08/my-grandfather-helped-build-the-bomb-oppenheimer-sanitized-its-impacts/"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The
film’s omission of this displacement, danger to the populace, and lack of
clarity on how the project was obscured for those that worked on it by Military
leaders, ultimately sanitizes these events</span></a><a href="https://d.docs.live.net/bb5a620476910e43/Documents/Sociologists%20Dojo/Oppenheimer%20Review%20.docx#_ftn2" name="_ftnref2" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn2;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[2]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">.
Where the lab was built, and the test conducted, Nolan treats his audience to
nothing but empty land. Like a lot of films set in the open plains and the American
Southwest (there is a <a href="https://www.metmuseum.org/exhibitions/listings/2013/the-american-west-in-bronze/blog/posts/american-west-in-film">whole
genre</a> with this backdrop) there is always empty land space without reminding
movie going audiences how that space <a href="https://guides.loc.gov/indian-removal-act">became empty</a> in the first
place.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Pop culture is Soft Power. It shapes the way
that we experience and understand the world, in part, through its sheer volume
of content. The multitude of films that depict the United States, especially
certain regions, as devoid of everything, save geographic resources, compared
to a few handfuls of books, articles and (usually) documentaries that explain
how that space became vacant; overrides the public consciousness from the
truth, and reinforces a Pro War Image that has long history in our entertainment.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">In a </span><a href="http://thesociologistsdojo.blogspot.com/2023/04/the-films-of-karyn-kusama-destroyer.html"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">previous
essay</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"> I explained the relationship between the Military
Industrial complex and entertainment in this way:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%;">In 1956, Sociologist C.
Wright Mills in his book The Power Elite discussed the collusion of the three
powerful social institutions in the United States, that of the Military, the
Economy and The Government. The name for this collusion, the Military
Industrial Complex, was attributed to Dwight D. Eisenhower during his farewell
presidential address in 1961. What was considerably absent from this analysis,
that was later filled in by other scholars in the interim, was the overall role
of the media in this enterprise.<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The role of the media, and more specifically
Hollywood, in the overall interconnection between these powerful systems is as
a propaganda machine and recruitment tool. Since World War II, the media has
been used to not only shape the public opinion about war, but to also provide
the Military with large numbers of young, able-bodied recruits. Many of these
tactics include but are not limited to: fear mongering (through news media), a
sense of cultural pride (through an appeal to nationalism), to expressions of
gender (combining militarization with masculinity) and economic stability (GI
Bill and the Poor). This has led to the entire entertainment industry, from
books and films to television and video games, to be linked with the military
and the broader department of defense. This Hollywood connection has been
disparagingly referred to as “The Military-Entertainment Industrial complex” or
more succinctly, “Militainment”.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%;">According to Rebecca
Keegan (2011):<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Filmmakers gain access to
equipment, locations, personnel and information that lend their productions
authenticity, while the armed forces get some measure of control over how
they’re depicted. That’s important not just for recruiting but also for guiding
the behavior of current troops and appealing to the U.S. taxpayers who foot the
bills.<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Thereby many films, TV
show episodes or Video Games that are about, or feature, any aspect of the
military (regardless of genre) will have a military consultant assigned to them
if the filmmakers want to keep their overall costs down.<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The development of this
relationship between entertainment and the military began in early Hollywood
with film directors making legitimate Propaganda films in the 1940’s (look at
Frank Capra’s film: “Why We Fight.”). This continued through the 1950’s and
60’s with the films of John Wayne, members of the Rat Pack and Elvis. Yet, this
collusion wasn’t solidified until the Reaganite 80’s with the release of Top
Gun in 1986. The Navy was heavily involved with the film as a consultant
ultimately increasing Navy recruitment by a staggering, but yet
unsubstantiated, 500%. Thirty-five years later, that link is still strong with
its sequel Top Gun: Maverick not only being nominated for best picture but
praised as being the film that saved theaters after the COVID-19 lockdown. Any
film that is contentious, or critical of the military and its mission, will not
get support. Oliver Stone had a very difficult time getting his films Platoon
and Born on the Fourth of July funded because the military rejected his funding
requests given the depiction of the Military in those films.<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Nolan’s decision to direct a period piece and further
whitewashing that time period contributes to and classifies <i>Oppenheimer </i>as
“Militainment.” US focused WWII stories have always been a soft-landing point
for military propaganda due to it being the birth of the American war machine. It
is a time that we’ve disinfected from the realities of protest or derision to <a href="https://www.oxfordreference.com/display/10.1093/oi/authority.20110803100132197">manufacture
public support</a>. Even today, these stories are still a hook for a lot of
older white male theatergoers that buy into the myth of American Greatness; thereby
developing an unhealthy interest, bordering on obsession, with “The Greatest
Generation” convincing themselves it was a time when “America was Great.”
*eyeroll*. Clearly, Nolan got support from the Military for this film as he was
given permission to film the explosion on White Sands Missile Range even if he
didn’t use it. The military officials must have not been threatened by the script,
believing it would show the American Government in a positive light. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Furthermore,
since we’ve seen a rise in, and desire for, diverse representation on film and
in other forms of media, we’ve also seen a rise in white male directors retreat
into the period piece. That way, their penchant for hiring (and telling stories
about) white men is obscured by the era when their story is set. This has the
added effect of veiling any racial ignorance/racism they may have; as well as shield
them from obsolescence in the current progressive culture.<a href="https://d.docs.live.net/bb5a620476910e43/Documents/Sociologists%20Dojo/Oppenheimer%20Review%20.docx#_ftn3" name="_ftnref3" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn3;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[3]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a> This retreat from
criticism is even illustrated in the stories that these white male directors decide
to tell<a href="https://d.docs.live.net/bb5a620476910e43/Documents/Sociologists%20Dojo/Oppenheimer%20Review%20.docx#_ftn4" name="_ftnref4" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn4;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[4]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>. For Nolan in this film, he
skirts the surface of critical analysis for J Robert Oppenheimer without producing
anything of substance. Like a lot of Right-wing pundits and the “discourse”
coming out of the libertarian movement, <i>Oppenheimer</i> depicts white men
engaging in lazy, inconsequential thought from a safe distance. These stories
often do not engage with their subject in any meaningful way. Instead, many of
these recent white male focused period pieces, play fast and loose with history
to the point where they should be considered fantasy or science fiction. This
inevitably comes across as teenagers writing collective fan fiction, building
on each other’s statements by saying: “Wouldn’t it be cool if…”. The problem, however,
is the unlikelihood that the audience for <i>Oppenheimer </i>recognizes the
difference between fact and fantasy. This is especially murky given Nolan’s
reputation for “gritty realism”. The public do not know, or aren’t prepared,
when Nolan takes such liberties, stretches truths, and tips his hand into the absurd.
For instance, the cringe inducing moment when Nolan uses Oppenheimer’s famous
quote: “I have become death; destroyer of worlds.” as sexual foreplay. This context
robs the quote of any pathos. Instead, it is a sophomorically pithy deflection
and deflation of reality while also hypocritically undermining the very “seriousness”
Nolan is evangelized for. This shows that Nolan only wants to be perceived as being
inquisitive without any real contemplation.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><i>Sociological
Aside: Theory and Research<o:p></o:p></i></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">In Sociology, a theory is
a statement about how particular facts are related that is often explaining social
behavior usually through the lens of a theoretical perspective. Sociologists
usually talk about “The big three” theoretical perspectives (Structural
Functionalism, Symbolic Interactionism and Power/Conflict) while others are adjacent
and incorporated (Post Structuralism, Feminist Theory, and Critical Race
Theory). Each of these perspectives act as a blueprint and or model for how the
social world operates and exists; and while the derivative individual theories
of each perspective will be explaining the same behavior, the conclusions are
going to be different because of the lens with which they are observing the
world.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The relationship between theory and research
is symbiotic. You cannot have one without the other. It is obvious you need a
hypothesis born out of theoretical analysis to test ideas. However, for a
theory to be viable, it first needs to be based on observable evidence. Otherwise,
why does it need to be explained? It is through the curiosity generated from
the observation that theory is born. Theory is not fabricated; it is the
attempt to understand the order of things and requires research. This continues
through the Scientific Model allowing the theory to be tested through a variety
of research methods either from the quantitative branch, broad numerical
approach, or the qualitative branch, which is far more descriptive and
detailed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Once the observation informs
the idea, through research, the data informs the theory. Does the theory need
to be changed to account for the results of the test? Usually, yes. Those
changes then allow the theoretical analysis to build. This is not what happens
in <i>Oppenheimer. </i>I take great umbrage with the way that this film scathes
the importance of theory and research. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">At the beginning of the
film, Oppenheimer is seen struggling in the laboratory. It is heavily implied,
and later, directly stated, that he is terrible at scientific lab work. Because
the University does not want to “waste his mind”, it encourages him to
transition to Theoretical Physics. This makes the unintentional consequence of valuing
research results over theory. The University is just going to stick him in his own
theoretical corner until one of his ideas can be usable for a practical purpose.
Rather than reinforce this division between theory and research, the film could
have done something different. Imagine if the film leaned into his incompetence
at lab work which then shed some doubt on his ability to help generate the bomb
successfully, adding to the tension; and reinforcing the importance of both
theory and research. Instead, that drama is minimized through a cheeky
conversation between Leslie Groves (Matt Damon) and Oppenheimer (Cillian
Murphy) which doubles down on the devaluing of theory and reduces the
importance of research with the line: “What do you want from theory alone?” </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">Meanwhile, the actual Oppenheimer said:</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: 0.5in;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgu8859v0v4sgT1E54Mcsr733mzgMeRoEJ7kvS-E7VSTXXAuVHnEFxUpvmm-3vwMw6pcxXYJ42Vb2EWrXPPSeA5Q4LEcchM49HrZzvFlxt94OAqFYI0MeBx3pTvYmMSqJQ6RUApwhhXAsVVnX6bMg27ANex0oaF1rbLGok0XEmklP4EeR-RyUa2LA1uCFxs/s850/cbfyBJGxKGbL6Kg5mFBwwlcLjymysR1HXUMXrFVM7Vk.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="850" height="189" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgu8859v0v4sgT1E54Mcsr733mzgMeRoEJ7kvS-E7VSTXXAuVHnEFxUpvmm-3vwMw6pcxXYJ42Vb2EWrXPPSeA5Q4LEcchM49HrZzvFlxt94OAqFYI0MeBx3pTvYmMSqJQ6RUApwhhXAsVVnX6bMg27ANex0oaF1rbLGok0XEmklP4EeR-RyUa2LA1uCFxs/w400-h189/cbfyBJGxKGbL6Kg5mFBwwlcLjymysR1HXUMXrFVM7Vk.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /> <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: 0.5in;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: 0.5in;"> </span><i style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: 0.5in;"> </i><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><i>Production
<o:p></o:p></i></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Nolan has
long been interested in doing his version of a biopic. For years, he was interested
in adapting the life of Howard Hughs, but was beaten to the screen by Martin
Scorsese with <i>The Aviator</i>. It is unclear if his fascination with
Oppenheimer was concurrent with his development of the Hughes story, or if became
a more recent interest with the publishing of<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>the source material, <i>American Prometheus</i>, </span><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/20/movies/christopher-nolan-oppenheimer.html"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">which
Nolan read in 2019</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">. With Robert Pattinson’s <i>Tenet </i>wrap
gift to Nolan being a book of Oppenheimer speeches, it seemed like the subject
of Nolan’s next project was set. Yet, as the planning for what would become <i>Oppenheimer
</i>began, Nolan’s relationship with Warner Bros soured due to their 2021
release schedule in conjunction with then titled streaming service HBOMAX. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>In my
previous essay on </span><a href="http://thesociologistsdojo.blogspot.com/2021/02/the-films-of-christopher-nolan-tenet.html"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Tenet</span></i></a><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"> </span></i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">I
wrote:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%;"> There
has been a lot of negative reactions to the AT&T decision in the last few
months, many of them coming from people who stand to lose a lot of money with
this decision; namely </span></i><a href="https://variety.com/2020/film/news/warner-bros-hbo-max-reacts-1234851888/"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%;">directors
and actors (who’s pay scale may be tied to box office performance) and Theater
owners</span></i></a><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%;">. One of the most vocal about this decision
was Christopher Nolan himself, who’s relationship with Warner bros. up to this
point was so strong, that he is one of three directors (The other two being
Clint Eastwood and Todd Philips) that could make whatever they wanted without
studio interference.<a name="_ftnref5"></a><a href="https://d.docs.live.net/bb5a620476910e43/Documents/Sociologists%20Dojo/Tenet%20Review%20.docx#_ftn5"><span style="mso-bookmark: _ftnref5;">[5]</span><span style="mso-bookmark: _ftnref5;"></span></a><span style="mso-bookmark: _ftnref5;"></span> This relationship was immediately
put into jeopardy when Nolan criticized the decision for not including
filmmakers in the conversation. </span></i><a href="https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/christopher-nolan-rips-hbo-max-as-worst-streaming-service-denounces-warner-bros-plan"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%;">In
an interview he was quoted as saying</span></i></a><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“Filmmakers went to bed the night before
thinking they were working for the greatest studio, and when they woke up they
realized they were working for the worst streaming service. Warner Bros. had an
incredible machine for getting a filmmaker’s work out everywhere, both in
theaters and in the home, and they are dismantling it as we speak. They don’t
even understand what they’re losing. Their decision makes no economic sense,
and even the most casual Wall Street investor can see the difference between disruption
and dysfunction.”<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%;">With such a statement it is clear that
Nolan was so burned by this decision, as a clear anathema, and bane of his
existence, that </span></i><a href="https://www.indiewire.com/2021/01/christopher-nolan-leaves-warner-bros-where-he-goes-next-1234610964/#!"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%;">he
has decided to completely sever ties with Warner Bros</span></i></a><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%;">.
a studio he has worked with since 2002 and where he reigned supreme, along with
Eastwood and Philips, as Warner’s Directing holy trinity. It is
clear with his clout in Hollywood, and now evidence of principle consistency
and having the “courage of his convictions”, Nolan will be able to produce and
distribute his film anywhere he wants. It has yet to be determined
who the real losers in this exchange are. The unknown variable is the complete
and long-lasting economic impact of COVID 19. AT&T’s decision may be the
best for them in the short term (which is typically how large corporations
think) But Warner Bros will not be able to ride the Nolan gravy train to the
next station, as long as he keeps making films that people want to
see. In the case of Tenet, the convoluted nature of the
film’s plot and the difficult social conditions of the industry upon its release
created a perfect storm of complications that led to this film’s overall
failure.<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">This led Nolan to go to Universal Studios for <i>Oppenheimer</i>,
getting a </span><a href="https://soundcloud.com/griffin-and-david-present/oppenheimer-with-marie-bardi"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“Blank
Check”</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"> for his trouble, and being allowed to extend the theatrical
window for the film from the standard 90 days to 120. Thus, Nolan was a “studio
darling” again without any oversight. To keep his position as the studio
paragon, Nolan again brought the film in early and under budget. While this may
ingratiate himself to the producers, and the studio financing the film (like
Neo, he is “the one), this can also put a strain on the workers; especially
considering that </span><a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/2023/07/19/christopher-nolan-oppenheimer-race/"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Oppenheimer
</span></i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">was
shot in 57 days</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">: beginning in March 8<sup>th</sup>2022
and ending that May. Because of this self-imposed timeline, corners were cut, labor
was not valued, and three thread bare story concepts, unable to stand on their
own, were twisted together in a contrivedly convoluted claptrap that one could
barely call cinema.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>In
the truncated timeline of <i>Oppenheimer,</i> the set for Los Alamos took 6
months to build but was only used for 6 days of actual shooting. While this is
often common in a lot of Big Budget films, it speaks to the frivolity of spending
when your budget is the equivalent of the infinity symbol. This also has the
added implication of the transient nature of background labor in Hollywood, and
the lack of compassion for production and postproduction labor. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This mentality is the underline problem that
has led </span><a href="https://www.vox.com/money/2023/8/22/23840473/writers-strike-actors-wga-sag-workers-economy-impact"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">to
the ongoing Writers and Actor’s strike</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Additionally,
because Nolan is perceived and self-promoted to be a chiefly technical director,
little regard is shown for story and dialogue.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>This is initially evidenced by Nolan’s fascination with cinematography
and scene composition, manifesting itself through his obsession with IMAX
cameras.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The camera’s being notoriously
loud, a lot of the dialogue gets drowned out. On another film, that wasn’t
overly fixated on a single part of the filmmaking tapestry, this draw back
would be fixed with Audio Dialogue Replacement (ADR) requiring actors to come
back and redub their lines to provide a film with cleaner audio</span><a href="https://variety.com/2023/film/news/christopher-nolan-defends-oppenheimer-sound-refuses-adr-recording-1235686895/"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">.
But in a Nolan film</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">, that is not happening. </span><a href="https://www.indiewire.com/news/general-news/christopher-nolan-refused-adr-oppenheimer-1234891623/"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">In
a recent interview Nolan rejected the use of ADR</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">
because he “wanted to preserve the actor’s performance on set.”. But on <i>Oppenheimer,
</i>Nolan goes a step further to obscure his dialogue by maintaining a score in
the background even in a simple two shot dramatic scene in an office. The only
time that Nolan’s film is noticeably silent is in the authentic depiction of
the bomb’s explosion, which sees a noticeable time lapse between the flash of
the explosion and its delayed cacophonous resonance. Whether this is another
instance of Nolan’s preoccupation with style over substance, or an active obfuscation
of trivial and puerile dialogue is unclear, but possible.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Nolan’s
contempt for anything outside of his beloved shot composition is observed nowhere
more clearly than his inability to tell a linearly rich and detailed story.
Instead, Nolan chooses to weave disparate fibers of uncomplicated and
rudimentary storylines into an unnecessarily complex web of scenes/images, that
are cut together with such rapidity, that the audience does not know what
exactly they are watching. In <i>Oppenheimer</i>, Nolan cannot help himself
from trying to connect three simple linear parts of Oppenheimer’s life: His
romantic relationships, His work on the bomb, and his political persecution
afterwards, into an inconceivably incongruous mess of nonlinear spaghetti; each
storyline thin and unsatisfying by the end. To be fair, in past films, such as <a href="http://thesociologistsdojo.blogspot.com/2013/12/the-films-of-christopher-nolan-memento.html">Memento</a>,
<a href="http://thesociologistsdojo.blogspot.com/2014/06/the-films-of-christopher-nolan-prestige.html">The
Prestige</a> and <a href="http://thesociologistsdojo.blogspot.com/2014/09/the-films-of-christopher-nolan-inception.html">Inception</a>,
this style has worked for Nolan given the genres he was playing in. This style
becomes increasingly unnerving and frustrating when working in the genre of historical
Biopic. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>It is
unclear how much Nolan is a man who sees the world outside of his own
perspective. He often tells the same story and wrestles with the same themes
that shallowly speak to him as a well off British American white dude. Like a
lot of other up incoming auteurs of the 1990’s, including the likes of
Tarantino (*groan*), Nolan prides himself for never going to film school and being
able to go to every department and understand what they do; learning how to
make films by going out and making them. The problem with this self-made,
pro-meritocracy, bootstrap pulling bullshit is that does not recognize the
opportunities, assistance and support Nolan, and others of his ilk, got from
countless other people behind them. They are under the false consciousness that
they did it all themselves, and that they are the most important person in the
room. This is a common mentality that feeds the egoistic narcissism of young
male directors. At which point the directors are surrounded by so many
sycophantic suck-ups that they are never challenged in any meaningful way.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwBQl7HonS08rULaIpcqkAt0kdwL9O9pHHjVWbX4AeumKxkqN673Ls1agyYbrxm26pT25LotwjbUs21ofcHU73gJX2Dlp7Rp16xyjHKuboIsawwZWrnZ9MoroJJmep7KIJcgZ7EMnJ7_FJ7JYDTGvoj-IRYwArrvmvVNIXJuxXOHFgV7lOPB3Ubm07Isp9/s2000/love2_0.webp" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2000" data-original-width="2000" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwBQl7HonS08rULaIpcqkAt0kdwL9O9pHHjVWbX4AeumKxkqN673Ls1agyYbrxm26pT25LotwjbUs21ofcHU73gJX2Dlp7Rp16xyjHKuboIsawwZWrnZ9MoroJJmep7KIJcgZ7EMnJ7_FJ7JYDTGvoj-IRYwArrvmvVNIXJuxXOHFgV7lOPB3Ubm07Isp9/w320-h320/love2_0.webp" width="320" /></a></b></div><b><br /></b><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">SOCIAL ANALYSIS <o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Being a specifically
rooted biopic of a person in a significant time period, <i>Oppenheimer </i>becomes
less sociologically interesting outside of its historical context. What is
compelling is not the themes of the film, but how those themes were used to
market the film to the public, and the film’s ultimate consumption. In the age
of low theater attendance and viral media marketing campaigns, <i>Oppenheimer </i>became
ensnared in a box office battle, turned friendly rivalry, that ironically deconstructed
and laid bare one of Nolan’s greatest screenwriting weaknesses. <i><o:p></o:p></i></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center; text-indent: 0.5in;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguIQMroqIjtwZkIlLWGLEny_EURbNrROe3dHOtb8nyvzEjEMiCAzCnn_An-M07Ux83TSgvV7HXUfR2MXxl4G4qA15CzptgL1PT7aqeilLBwjLjzKN4CZvG3-o1igmY6Yzm2__lcIBNvPswvAsadv2n6hdmmbkuSeOKbCngZiQepSQvg7Ebzken4btDtfGI/s3000/fkBLa2W.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1680" data-original-width="3000" height="179" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguIQMroqIjtwZkIlLWGLEny_EURbNrROe3dHOtb8nyvzEjEMiCAzCnn_An-M07Ux83TSgvV7HXUfR2MXxl4G4qA15CzptgL1PT7aqeilLBwjLjzKN4CZvG3-o1igmY6Yzm2__lcIBNvPswvAsadv2n6hdmmbkuSeOKbCngZiQepSQvg7Ebzken4btDtfGI/s320/fkBLa2W.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“Barbenheimer” and the Bechdel Test</span></i><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span></span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">When
Christopher Nolan had his falling out with Warner Bros over the HBOMAX deal, that
left a hole in Warner Schedule of programming that was originally reserved for
Nolan.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>However, because Nolan could
pretty much write his own ticket at Universal he decided to keep with the
originally planned third week in July release date (a staple for Nolan). Still,
in a petty move of counterprograming, Warner Bros slated Greta Gerwig’s <i>Barbie</i>
the same weekend as <i>Oppenheimer, </i>and thus, “</span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbenheimer"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"> Barbenheimer</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">”
was born. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Initially,
the media manufactured these films as rivals. They initially saw the behind-the-scenes
drama between Nolan and WB,<b> </b>and the overall thematic differences between
the films, as being ripe with contentious drama.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Yet, as this comparison went viral, creating
companion memes galore, it became less about box office competition and more
about what is the proper viewing order. Were you going to see <i>Oppenheimer </i>first
to get the serious heft of a WWII era Biopic out of your system and then finish
it up with a bubble gum chaser of <i>Barbie</i>? Or were you going to see them
in reverse. The irony, to anyone who has seen both films, is that Gerwig’s <i>Barbie</i>
is a lot more nuanced. It attempts to maintain a feminist lens that dismantles
gender norms and the patriarchy; ultimately revealing itself to be a lot more
cerebral than originally perceived.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>It
would be easy to frame these two films along the gender binary and say that <i>Barbie</i>,
with its loud neon pink saturation, and collection of racially diverse female
cast, is about women, and that <i>Oppenheimer </i>is about men. Yet, <i>Barbie </i>says
more about toxic masculinity and how to heal from it, whereas <i>Oppenheimer </i>just
doubles down on the poison. This persistence for the film to have no self-awareness,
in comparison to <i>Barbie </i>which is cheekily self-aware, highlights <i>Oppenheimer’s
</i>deaf tone with audiences, especially around the writing and
characterization of women.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Christopher
Nolan has never been able to write women, and as a result women are little more
than window dressing in his movies. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Few
of Nolan’s films pass The Bechdel Test, a simple low bar of female
representation in film that has three basic components:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">1.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">There
are two women in the film that have names.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">2.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Those
women talk to each other.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">3.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The
subject of their conversation is not men, or a male character. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">This measurement is not determining a film to be
feminist or even good. Many of the films that pass can still be sexist, while
other films with an egalitarian message can fail. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is a just a foundational measurement for
the perception of women in filmmaking; but it is surprising how many films fumble
this criterion. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">In <i>Oppenheimer</i>, Nolan
seems to have regressed from recent work to present women more unfavorably than
before. There are two principal female characters in the film, each of whom are
framed only as a love interest for Oppenheimer, even though the women being
portrayed: </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean_Tatlock"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Jean
Tatlock</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"> (Florance Pugh) and </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Katherine_Oppenheimer"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Kathrine
Oppenheimer</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"> (Emily Blunt), were far more interesting
and accomplished in their own lives beyond their relationship with Oppenheimer.
Yet, Nolan sees these accomplished women as <a href="https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/WomenInRefrigerators">nothing
more than the motivation that drives his protagonist and the source of shame
and guilt that haunts him</a>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What
makes this film different than the countless other 2-dimensional carboard props,
Nolan usually creates of his female characters, is that in <i>Oppenheimer, </i>he
adds nudity and sex. At least 1/3<sup>rd</sup> of Florance Pugh’s screen time
is spent nude, and with the stilted jolting cuts that Nolan loves to make, most
of her screen time is just visualized parts of her body. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Understand, nudity and sex are not the
problem. But add female nudity and sex to the already reduced myopic vision of
women to begin with, then you are just recreating tired and objectifying
stereotypes. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span></span></b><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></i></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnN2Pria253BlhHYjsS1-jFX9h1DDJ-aBd2zKzAulf8-mcjPNXNWq_6RIN_TPcXC8YDc-G_pE5j2LIWy_RHBCHzQirRblN1cgTmKzM41nadyxh9yqP0hH0GgulwsxvgczU-oLdrQcFZGcjJEiGiSf4vU9zur71nxOzoqp-CRa0aRHxc5RKTbdRfvhsxUNm/s1200/11095081_0.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="959" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnN2Pria253BlhHYjsS1-jFX9h1DDJ-aBd2zKzAulf8-mcjPNXNWq_6RIN_TPcXC8YDc-G_pE5j2LIWy_RHBCHzQirRblN1cgTmKzM41nadyxh9yqP0hH0GgulwsxvgczU-oLdrQcFZGcjJEiGiSf4vU9zur71nxOzoqp-CRa0aRHxc5RKTbdRfvhsxUNm/w320-h400/11095081_0.jpg" width="320" /></a></i></div><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">CONCLUSION<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Christopher Nolan
retreads a lot of the same ground in his films, often using the same actors to
go through the same notes of time, loss, regret, and redemption, to usually
financial and critical success. In addition to pointing out Nolan’s narrowed
interests in storytelling, this also points to the way that our culture has
been conditioned through </span><a href="http://thesociologistsdojo.blogspot.com/2023/03/death-taxes-and-bureaucracy-weberian.html"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Bureaucratic
socialization</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"> to want a remixing of certain stories,
rather than new ones. This is made heart-wrenchingly clear with the
proliferation of legacy sequels, IP adaptations, and forever franchises that
have become so much cash cow content that the public becomes desensitized to
it. It just becomes something to watch. In this landscape, no one cares what
they are eating, so long as the troth is full. The problem, aside from the
obvious slow corrupting death of a hundred-year artform, is that Nolan’s work
looks like the peak of cinema by comparison.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Use older techniques that bid time return and frame your film in a different
way than the countless hours of churned out drivel from every production
company, and suddenly you are evangelized as a god. Like this film’s subject,
Nolan believes himself to be divine, graciously giving the gift of “real”
cinema to the people, when, his reverence is a function of the quality of
cinema decreasing, rather than his work shining above the rest. His work
profits from lowered expectations which also shields him from mainstream
criticism and growth as a filmmaker. <i>Oppenheimer</i> is a culmination of a
lot of Nolan’s worst tendencies, and without honest introspection, he will
become what the indie film bros. of the 1970’s became: bloated human husks of
corporately controlled power, that strangled the very thing they claim to love.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: 0.5in;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: 0.5in;"> </span><i style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: 0.5in;"> </i></p>
<div style="mso-element: footnote-list;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/9Tnux7K3MOQ" width="320" youtube-src-id="9Tnux7K3MOQ"></iframe></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><!--[if !supportFootnotes]-->
<hr align="left" size="1" width="33%" />
<!--[endif]-->
<div id="ftn1" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<p class="MsoFootnoteText"><a href="https://d.docs.live.net/bb5a620476910e43/Documents/Sociologists%20Dojo/Oppenheimer%20Review%20.docx#_ftnref1" name="_ftn1" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn1;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[1]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a> As
a geek and film snob, I know what it is like to get very granular with things
that you are interested in.<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="ftn2" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<p class="MsoFootnoteText"><a href="https://d.docs.live.net/bb5a620476910e43/Documents/Sociologists%20Dojo/Oppenheimer%20Review%20.docx#_ftnref2" name="_ftn2" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn2;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[2]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a> Those
in authority literally called the bomb a “gadget” Meanwhile, their many other
employees had no clue what they were working on until Truman’s announcement of the
attack on Hiroshima. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="ftn3" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<p class="MsoFootnoteText"><a href="https://d.docs.live.net/bb5a620476910e43/Documents/Sociologists%20Dojo/Oppenheimer%20Review%20.docx#_ftnref3" name="_ftn3" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn3;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[3]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a> Scorsese,
Tarantino and Nolan have all done this in recent projects. <o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="ftn4" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<p class="MsoFootnoteText"><a href="https://d.docs.live.net/bb5a620476910e43/Documents/Sociologists%20Dojo/Oppenheimer%20Review%20.docx#_ftnref4" name="_ftn4" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn4;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[4]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a> These
characters are usually a thin veneer atop the director’s own collection of
neurosis and narcissism that they are publicly trying to work through.<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
</div><br /><p></p>Brian Brutlaghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08099644007940320266noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8714941782515128558.post-24018666731466034322023-07-01T12:42:00.000-07:002023-07-01T12:42:29.711-07:00The Queering Feminist Spectacle of Thelma and Louise <p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBZzyG0t87T4ZAVRU54TMOpZ9cJSYphwDlCTJ4_Mg4JxViynmxzfE2RYNE_Ahzjl-wONqARLrosPeF-b3IEZO6W-F4x4tWRIk6DgQakIQ3ry7mrbiFAHckuj6GKIUsAZQ0Xn4hAWDDgPXUxNtNRMRcvcThmVlP6fa6TapKHMY9UoZ2dca3qPt7i_-yesJb/s1680/nausicaa-578x801.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1323" data-original-width="1680" height="315" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBZzyG0t87T4ZAVRU54TMOpZ9cJSYphwDlCTJ4_Mg4JxViynmxzfE2RYNE_Ahzjl-wONqARLrosPeF-b3IEZO6W-F4x4tWRIk6DgQakIQ3ry7mrbiFAHckuj6GKIUsAZQ0Xn4hAWDDgPXUxNtNRMRcvcThmVlP6fa6TapKHMY9UoZ2dca3qPt7i_-yesJb/w400-h315/nausicaa-578x801.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><p style="text-align: center;"><br /></p><p><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">In the organization of
traditional gender stereotypes, masculinity is framed as the rational
(emotionally) repressive and relationally reductive identity that thrives on
aggression as well as the alienation and abuse of women. Women, thereby become
the fulcrum and rubric by which men ocellate toward and are critiqued; to
achieve and maintain their traditional forms of (fragile) masculinity.
Conversely, in this same organization, femininity revels in the relational,
having women define their identity through the emotional bonds they cultivate
with their children or the variety of male figures in their lives, albethey
fathers, mentors, or partners.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
normalization of this framing happens through its consistent representation in
film and popular culture. Under this yoke, not only do we see a reproduction of
these dangerous archetypes, but there is little room for exploration past these
boundaries, unless there’s a monumental catalyst. Ridley Scott’s 1991 <i>Thelma
and Louise </i>is the frenetic feminist film about friendship that became the
popular spark for the third wave feminist movement, upended traditional gender
role organization in cinema, and galvanized a generation (of women). This paper
is a brief exploration of the social and cultural impact of the film, its
resonance, relevant themes, and reclamation by both the industry and
populace.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/2iBFmKlO4BY" width="320" youtube-src-id="2iBFmKlO4BY"></iframe></div><br /><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">PLOT<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">While traveling to a fishing
cabin for a weekend getaway, two girlfriends stop at a roadside bar to get a
drink and proverbially let their hair down. However, after experiencing an assault
and attempted rape that leaves the rapist dead, the titular Thelma (Geena Davis)
and Louise (Susan Sarandon) flee the scene; understanding that they will not be
believed or found innocent. What follows is a road-trip across the southwest as
the pair attempt to get to Mexico while trying to avoid a tenacious cop (Harvey
Keitel) and the FBI hot on their trail. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnKanVi7WhPrE5yOw8gf9r6q6h7G6GJ5490eMi-8Hdqk_JOT4fO3hOtKtN9laRLE3vkHGrWlF5q_hiZKuExuYY_hBvmHriWpuHaCbGGHTE9ohJXCSh5GbYMGPgb91QUQJvbJS1OLKe5oMmIhsDWB_mwasz86ehMN9B4YmnQI8m7OynFH9GfYzxLHYaAqFr/s1024/love2_0.webp" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="627" data-original-width="1024" height="245" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnKanVi7WhPrE5yOw8gf9r6q6h7G6GJ5490eMi-8Hdqk_JOT4fO3hOtKtN9laRLE3vkHGrWlF5q_hiZKuExuYY_hBvmHriWpuHaCbGGHTE9ohJXCSh5GbYMGPgb91QUQJvbJS1OLKe5oMmIhsDWB_mwasz86ehMN9B4YmnQI8m7OynFH9GfYzxLHYaAqFr/w400-h245/love2_0.webp" width="400" /></a></div><br /><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">HISTORICAL CONTEXT<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span></span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Since
its release in 1991, <i>Thelma and Louise</i>’s cinematic gravitas has been
profound. This praise being validated in 2016 when the film was entered into
the library of congress as a work that was “culturally, historically or
aesthetically significant.” Screenwriter Callie Khouri’s female led “buddy road
trip” movie both subverted and exceeded expectations. The film acts as a
barometer for the time period from which it is currently being analyzed. The
feminism, and barriers that were present at the time of production and the
initial reviews, have different arguments for the film’s merits and shortcomings
than those who view the film retrospectively.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>What was harsh criticism and resistance in the early 1990’s, may be
nostalgically tempered today; even perceived as quaint. It is also important to
recognize that <i>Thelma and Louise</i> is a seminally foundational film from
which other filmmakers have scaffolded and parodied in the warmest heartfelt
way<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Production
<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span></span></i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Callie Khouri originally
planned for <i>Thelma and Louise</i> to be an independent film, with herself
serving as writer/director. But after shopping it around and finding no buyers,
her producing partner arranged to have the script find its way (through a
series of acquaintances) to Ridley Scott. Scott loved the script and bought the
film rights for $500,000. Scott only decided to direct the film after Michelle
Pfeiffer convinced him; she and Jodie foster were originally going to star in
the film. Both would eventually drop out due to scheduling conflicts with other
projects: Pfeiffer went on to star in <i>Love Field </i>and Foster went on to
her award-winning turn as Clarice Starling in <i>The Silence of the Lambs</i>.
After their departure, other actors under consideration were Meryl Streep and
Goldie Hawn who also withdrew. During this time of protagonist uncertainty,
Geena Davis was heavily campaigning for either role. Scott liked her, but did
know for which part, feeding rumors about her being able to take either part if
casting took too long.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Her chemistry
with Sarandon clinched it, and they were off to the races.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>During
the production of the film, the lighting and framing of some of the driving
scenes were difficult. Much of which caused them not to be able to wear a lot
of hats and glasses as the camera always had to find their faces. Sarandon, who
did a lot of driving for many of the film’s shots, commented on how she was
instructed to keep the camera shot between the side mirror and Davis as she
drove.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>In
one of the insert essays for the immaculately sensuous </span><a href="https://www.criterion.com/films/29164-thelma-louise"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">4k
Criterion Blu-Ray</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"> release of <i>Thelma and Louise</i>, film
critic Jessica Kiang (2023) marvels at the way costume designer Elizabeth
McBride visually represents Thelma and Louise’s transformation through their attire.
At each act break, the wardrobe of each principal character expresses their emotional
state. In act one, both women are buttoned up and constrained, trapped in the
lives that they are (at this point) momentarily escaping for a weekend. The
inciting incident breaks both women, and afterwards, there is a change of
clothes. Eventually by the third act:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;">“The
makeup goes the way of the headscarves, which are replaced by battered hats
bartered or stolen from men. Plain tanks and sleeveless tees come to be favored
over girlish blouses and crisp shirts. Soon, the two rangy, tanned,
double-denimed redheads in the dusty blue Ford are almost camouflaged against
the stonewashed desert skies and the pink-orange sandstone bluffs”</span></i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">
(Kiang 2023). <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The transformation of our principal characters is
visually expressed within the continuity of their clothes. They become unencumbered,
unfettered, freer… even as this is juxtaposed by the dangers getting closer as
the police close in.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>According to Khouri
(2011) they’ve went from invisible to, too big for the world to contain; all of
which is visually represented in t-shirts, jeans and sunglasses.<a href="https://d.docs.live.net/bb5a620476910e43/Documents/Sociologists%20Dojo/Thelma%20and%20Louise%20Essay.docx#_ftn1" name="_ftnref1" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn1;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[1]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a> <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Indeed, the utter simplicity with which this
is visually conveyed in small increments, is so remarkable that it almost seems
meditative. Thelma and Louise are stripping off all the things that they were, to
embrace their new surroundings. They emerge out of their hardened gender
stereotypical shells revealing that they have taken on the aesthetics of the
geography of their liberation: the American Southwest.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Second Wave Representation and the Impact
on Third Wave Feminism</span></i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span></span></i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">According
to Valenti (2007) </span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Feminism </span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">can be
defined as:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l1 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">1.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">The belief in the social, political,
and economic equality of all the sex and gender identities within the gendered
spectrum that incorporates an understanding of standpoint differences based
upon age, race, class, disability, sexual orientation, cultural and religious
ideology.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="mso-list: l1 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">2.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">An organization and socio-political
movement around such a belief. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">In discussing the overall
history of the Feminist movement, and to delineate the changes in scope, goals,
issues, and membership, several scholars and public intellectuals have organized
the movement into a “wave model”.<a href="https://d.docs.live.net/bb5a620476910e43/Documents/Sociologists%20Dojo/Thelma%20and%20Louise%20Essay.docx#_ftn2" name="_ftnref2" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn2;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">[2]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
During the development, shooting and release of <i>Thelma and Louise,</i> the
United States was on the precipice of its third wave of Feminism. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>When
the public thinks of “The Feminist Movement” they think of <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“The Second Wave,” immortalized by names like Betty
Friedan, bell hooks, and Audre Lorde. “The Second Wave” feminist movement
coincided and overlapped with the Civil Rights movement beginning in the 1950’s.
Motivated by the renewed domesticity of Post World War II, women, particularly
white women, felt a non-specific malaise. This feeling was articulated by Betty
Friedan (1963) as “the problem that has no name.” to describe the state of
personal unfulfillment many women felt not having anything outside of embodying
the roles of wives and mothers.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">“The most glaring proof that, no matter how elaborate, “Occupation
Housewife” is not an adequate substitute for truly challenging work, important enough
to society to be paid for in its coin…having their husbands share the housework
didn’t really compensate women for being shut out of the larger world.” (</span></i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Friedan 1963: 350-351).<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">This state of “profound unfulfillment” motivated the second wave feminists
to fight for women’s ability to work outside the home, reproductive rights,
abortion rights, representation in government, and rights to education; and
against: the wage gap, sex discrimination, body image, hyper-sexualization, and
sexual violence. This ultimately led to such victories as contraception access,
equal pay acts, and federal body rights for women. These became the foundation with
which women and their allies could build a third movement.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><o:p></o:p></b></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Third
Wave Feminism rose to prominence through the fighting back against the
anti-feminist movement that rose out of the hyper conservative corporate
cultural flavor of 1980’s individualism (Hyde Amendment, Bombing/ defunding of
abortion clinics, murdering of abortion doctors). By 1987 85% of clinics
provided no abortions.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was a culture
where Feminism became known as “<b>The other F-word.”</b> The Third Wave
Feminism officially began during the outrage over the Anita Hill and Clarence
Thomas scandal.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This controversy, coupled
with the shaming of Hill and the eventual appointment of Thomas to the Supreme
Court, energized feminists into a new movement, sparking Rebecca Walker to coin
the term "Third Wave” in 1992.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The
third panel of this Feminist Movement triptych, focused on the topics of
language re-appropriation, body and sex positivity, intersectionality (problems
and different realities living within a gendered system), social justice representation
in popular culture, sexual harassment, rape culture, LGBTQAI rights, and "Girlie"
Feminism.<a href="https://d.docs.live.net/bb5a620476910e43/Documents/Sociologists%20Dojo/Thelma%20and%20Louise%20Essay.docx#_ftn3" name="_ftnref3" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn3;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">[3]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a> At
the time, this burgeoning new wave, bursting with youth and vitality (as all
movements are initially) claimed many victories. They successfully staved off the
weakening and repeal of Roe (something that would remain commonplace until its
eventual repeal with the <i>Dobbs </i>decision in June of 2022). They helped to
pass and implement the Sexual Harassment ban by creation of a ‘hostile
environment’ in 1986. 1992 was deemed "The Year of the Woman", which
saw the election of the most women elected to congress in US History at the
time. Third wave feminists championed the federal ban against raping your wife in
1993, The Family Medical Leave Act 1993, the Violence Against Women Act 1994,
and the illegality of FGM (female genital mutilation) in 1997. In popular
culture, we also saw an increase in Feminist Icons: Madonna, Queen Latifah,
Angelina Jolie, and characters like Buffy Summers and Xena, who like </span><a href="https://bijou.uiowa.edu/bijou-blog/thelma-and-louise"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Thelma and Louise</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"> were not only feminist icons, but were
also </span><a href="https://movieweb.com/thelma-and-louise-queer-allegory/"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Queer claimed. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3yzcidbHjXX7SkfNJ6e67kxfhLudAmJE0TzH_cxaT_OhZwJbr-l24fBkdXq7oQAjvT5WeLKllS6crICGawsEs0O1yS3PSMht31qgF69AF_mXcALGNU65Z5yMeB131FoyZywi0glgOts1hdExTraOJbuokJ64gEilNUQ74Y7fhAL0LIOk9ARjKXVgZ96oG/s577/cbfyBJGxKGbL6Kg5mFBwwlcLjymysR1HXUMXrFVM7Vk.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="577" data-original-width="541" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3yzcidbHjXX7SkfNJ6e67kxfhLudAmJE0TzH_cxaT_OhZwJbr-l24fBkdXq7oQAjvT5WeLKllS6crICGawsEs0O1yS3PSMht31qgF69AF_mXcALGNU65Z5yMeB131FoyZywi0glgOts1hdExTraOJbuokJ64gEilNUQ74Y7fhAL0LIOk9ARjKXVgZ96oG/w375-h400/cbfyBJGxKGbL6Kg5mFBwwlcLjymysR1HXUMXrFVM7Vk.jpg" width="375" /></a></div><br /> <o:p></o:p><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">“We don’t live in
that kind of world Thelma.” Louise<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">In <i>Thelma and
Louise, </i>Thelma’s story arc is one that demarcates the transition from
Second wave feminism, to the more radicalized third wave. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In the opening of the film, Thelma is the isolated
and embattled housewife Friedan (1963) describes above. Marrying Darryl right
out of high school, Thelma has little of an identity outside of the one she has
cobbled together behind his back, primarily through her friendship with Louise.
As the road trip begins, having never been on a vacation (presumably without
her Husband) and not knowing what to pack, Thelma brings (almost) everything.
Not knowing how to act, Thelma also begins to imitate Louise, playfully smoking
a cigarette and declaring: “I’m Louise.” like a child copying their parent’s
behavior to learn how to be an adult. This infantilism of Thelma continues when
she suggests stopping for a drink before they continue to the cabin. The
acquiescence of Louise is framed more as the capitulation of a mother to her
daughter rather than another adult. “Ok, but it’s gonna be a quick stop.”
Louise amends. An enraptured Thelma becomes a giddy schoolgirl bouncing in her
seat. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Thelma’s
innocent, open and naïve nature becomes a plot device that moves the story forward;
being the catalyst for the inciting incident and bridging the different acts of
the film. Because of this, cheap, easy, and intellectually uninteresting
criticisms full of victim-blaming were lauded at the film upon release in 1991.
Rather, what Thelma’s arc depicts is the persistent virulence of a misogynistic
rape culture that does not allow women to be open, honest, and trustworthy;
without being harmed for putting that faith in people. This messaging was
unfortunately drowned out in the public consciousness of the 1990s that saw
Thelma’s victimization as a catalyst to grasp feminist power, which now has become
a tired trope hung around the neck of every “strong female character” since. The
public takeaway of Thelma’s attempted rape (and the implied rape Louise experienced
in Texas) was not just that the patriarchal misogynistic cesspool of our
culture destroys our belief in humanity (framed by Thelma’s feminized
innocence); but that we need to break women of their femininity in order to make
them worthy of (Masculine) power. Thus, after the attempted rape, Thelma baptizes
herself in sex with a young robbing drifter, JD (Brad Pitt) and becomes born
again. And after surviving the crucible of his sudden and inevitable betrayal
(he steals their money) she is reforged into a liquor store robbing, cop
threatening, truck exploding badass. Thelma, like Louise before her (in Texas),
morphs from a second wave archetypical cautionary tale into a third wave
paragon. “This is what a (third-wave) feminist (will) look like.” <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDEuvBOFZSseXNHdaOhUqz0gJKPxz0h1PQ2J_g5AeOMsJcGp6XSwd_NdEPfkK9u_yDbpy__9efATr-ExZ39Qq8WrsM4NgbP8tmlf1yF6yNU5V_gSQVZ17Q-qzBvjMQWGigcSskmn3SCP98xCF-qkD_CuO3K5b5FhINTCQLcfi1lLY4ggiuCpMk_3bonphM/s3344/7_sammy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2560" data-original-width="3344" height="306" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDEuvBOFZSseXNHdaOhUqz0gJKPxz0h1PQ2J_g5AeOMsJcGp6XSwd_NdEPfkK9u_yDbpy__9efATr-ExZ39Qq8WrsM4NgbP8tmlf1yF6yNU5V_gSQVZ17Q-qzBvjMQWGigcSskmn3SCP98xCF-qkD_CuO3K5b5FhINTCQLcfi1lLY4ggiuCpMk_3bonphM/w400-h306/7_sammy.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">SOCIAL ANALYSIS </span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span></span><a href="https://people.southwestern.edu/~bednarb/roadsideamerica/articles/heller-nicholas.pdf"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">A lot</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"> has been </span><a href="https://www.criterion.com/current/series/thelma-louise"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">written about</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"> <i>Thelma and Louise </i></span><a href="https://time.com/4344000/thelma-louise-25th-anniversary-feminism-women-gender/"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">since its release</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">. The initial </span><a href="https://nypost.com/2016/04/07/as-a-feminist-film-thelma-louise-fails-miserably/"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">criticism of the film</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"> by critics were eventually drowned
out by the reclamation of the film in the eyes of the public. It is daunting to
write about a film that is so much a part of the </span><a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2011/08/thelma-louise-the-last-great-film-about-women/244336/"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">cultural and socio-political zeitgeist</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">. A film that is
used as a bridge between two subsequent eras of </span><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/film/2021/may/24/thelma-and-louis-susan-sarandon-geen-davis"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">feminist liberation</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"> signifying its transformation without
becoming overwhelmed and a pedantically glib facsimile of other work that is better
written and </span><a href="https://people.southwestern.edu/~bednarb/road-movies/articles/man.pdf"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">researched</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">. The film is even a part of </span><a href="https://faculty.sites.wfu.edu/steve-jarrett/home/course-information-2/com-246/com-246-syllabus-and-schedule-summer-2016/thelma-and-louise-study-guide"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">academic discourse</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>However, what seems to be missing in this discourse is a deconstruction
of the patriarchy through an analysis of the film’s male characters, a focus on
Adrianne Rich’s “The Lesbian Existence” not just through its queer reading (though
we’ll talk about that kiss), but through the importance, and power of female
friendships, and the main character’s liberation through masculinization that
echoes the wisdom and warnings of Audre Lorde.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiN_W0yXX8VS8jEu7-hD6X63KJqfwe_gj3RUklRh7Tr95qgHZyv6a7fv0kWxu-JMDqBFFTkESwNCkGSaGvLEFBkJKT2qJMNXbi5z8fHnKLpIteij7aBv1h8GpgZhRUWOkGu5sUnDC_CrgtR6DOjJI5NzfcY8cbYPytCfik8WVIJfAsOubjjn3iGfdIiV307/s970/Untitled-800x400.webp" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="646" data-original-width="970" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiN_W0yXX8VS8jEu7-hD6X63KJqfwe_gj3RUklRh7Tr95qgHZyv6a7fv0kWxu-JMDqBFFTkESwNCkGSaGvLEFBkJKT2qJMNXbi5z8fHnKLpIteij7aBv1h8GpgZhRUWOkGu5sUnDC_CrgtR6DOjJI5NzfcY8cbYPytCfik8WVIJfAsOubjjn3iGfdIiV307/w400-h266/Untitled-800x400.webp" width="400" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><br /></span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“You
get what you settle for.”- Louise <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><i>Patriarchal
Takedown: The Men of Thelma and Louise <o:p></o:p></i></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The
male characters of <i>Thelma and Louise </i>are a cinematic rebuke of the misogynistic
institutional shackles of marriage, family, and masculinity itself. From the
extremes of Thelma’s husband, Darryl, to the Arkansas Detective, Hal, with
Louise’s beau Jimmy, and honey trap JD in between. Each man represents a
certain type of masculinity and how those masculinities co-exist (or not). <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">For this purpose, Masculinity can be defined as:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">…simultaneously a place in gender
relations, the practices through which men and women engage that place in
gender and the effect of these in the body experience, personality and culture
[through] everyday conduct of life…in relation to a reproductive arena defined
by the bodily structures and process of human reproduction. (</span></i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Connell 1995: 71).<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Darryl is the
embodiment of the masculine stereotypes within the institution of marriage: a bumbling,
philandering, oafish, meanspirited man, who barely rises to meet his own
mediocrity. He is the archetype of a common and likely story: he peaked in high
school, and imprisoned a smart, capable excitingly vibrant woman with the
chains of matrimony. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Additionally, because
traditional masculine gender socialization has robbed him of any knowledge of
how to care for himself, or others, (he is a selfishly poor lover); he begins
to fall to pieces once Thelma leaves. In other films, where this device is
often employed to allow a (usually male) character to achieve an epiphany; and
learn to treat their spouse with more care and attention, Darryl doubles down
(albeit meekly) and attempts to use anger and threats to get Thelma to
comeback, a tactic that, prior to the events of the film, would have worked. While
this depiction is more believable than a sudden transformation that populates
other (lesser) films, it also points to the way that masculinity only allows
men to express the complexity of emotions through anger. He is scared,
distracted and utterly clueless without a woman to guide him. As the final
chase begins to escalate to its climax, we cut to Darryl one final time and
push in on his void and vacant face. He is dumbfounded. He is lost. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Jimmy is the epitome
of Masculine domestic violence. He classically fits into the behaviors of the
power and control wheel of sexual violence.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>He is sweet and caring one minute, explosively violent the next. He is willing
to help wire some money to Louise (out of her own account). But when she goes
to pick up the money, she also finds Jimmy, because his help always has strings
attached. He sternly banishes JD and sidelines Thelma so that he can be alone
with Louise. In their hotel room, she doesn’t want to confide in him what
happened, so he violently throws a tantrum of an insecure man with arrested
development. When Louise rightly attempts to leave, he blocks her exit and gives
her an engagement ring. This whiplash reaction is common with domestic abusers
and is a textbook example of the cycle of violence. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Typical cycle of physical domestic violence <o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 31.5pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-list: l2 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list 31.5pt; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">1)<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Unrealistic
Standards or expectations in the relationship </span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">(involves coercion)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 31.5pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-list: l2 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list 31.5pt; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">2)<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Verbal abuse</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"> (yelling,
screaming)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 31.5pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-list: l2 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list 31.5pt; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">3)<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Threat of Physical
attack</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"> (“I’ll kill you.” “Don’t make me beat the shit out of you”) which may
include destroying property<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 31.5pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-list: l2 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list 31.5pt; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">4)<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><b>Actual Attack</b>- One hit or multiple,
closed fist , open fist, with an object, sexual or not, doesn’t matter <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 31.5pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-list: l2 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list 31.5pt; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">5)<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><b>Remorse from Attacker:</b> <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>minimizing/denying the attack and/or blaming
the victim. The police may or may not be called “It will never happen again”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 31.5pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-list: l2 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list 31.5pt; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">6)<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><b>Unresolved Action</b>: Fear of leaving
attacker, forgiveness, internalizing blame, not pressing charges (Cycle then
starts over).<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">The morning after
the violence in the hotel room, Jimmy is back on the cycle in his remorseful
contrition stage; telling Louise that he won’t tell anyone where she and Thelma
are, where they are going, or that he’s even seen them. Louise blithely asks if
he took a drug that made him say “all the right things.” (implying that he
regularly doesn’t). It is in this moment of serenity that Jimmy, again, brings
up the ring. With the gentleness of talking to a small, wounded child; Louise
quietly says: “Why don’t you hold on to this for me.” And pushes the ring and
(metaphorically) him away. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The last we
see of Jimmy is him being confronted by the cops to interrogate him about
Thelma and Louise’s whereabouts. Yet, unlike his promise, it is later revealed
by Hal that he told the cops everything that he knew.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Whether that was a ploy to get Louise to come
back to him (assuming they were caught), or as punishment for her rejection of
him, remains to be seen.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>JD is the female gazey incel that entices
naïve sex-starved Thelma into a romantic dalliance, so that he can rob her.
Thelma is clearly his target, setting up their meet cute for just after she
tells Darryl, in a phone call, to go fuck himself. In another instance, he leans
over while purposefully being backlit from the setting sun from Thelma’s side
mirror vantage point. All of this to trap her in a </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honey_trapping"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">honey pot scam</span></a><span class="MsoHyperlink"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">.</span></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"> <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>However, unbeknownst to him,
Thelma is motivated toward the same passionate interlude to free herself from
the fear of the assault and attempted rape, so she can reclaim her body. JD’s
actions have a two-pronged effect: It complicates Thelma and Louise’s plans to
get to Mexico, forcing them to begin robbing from convenience stores and other people,
while it also provides Thelma with an (orgasmic) catalyst for her soulful and
spiritual awakening. The audience is left to determine if this nonconsensual
prostitution payment was money well “spent”<a href="https://d.docs.live.net/bb5a620476910e43/Documents/Sociologists%20Dojo/Thelma%20and%20Louise%20Essay.docx#_ftn4" name="_ftnref4" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn4;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">[4]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Hal, the police officer, is the
film’s attempt at a male savior. In his initial investigation he believes that
the shooting was in self-defense, and in the face of mounting additional
evidence, supports them being brought in. He understands both Thelma and Louise’s
circumstances and what led them to make their decisions.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At the end of the film, he is pleading with
the FBI field officer (Steven Tobolowsky) to not let the police shoot them, screaming:
“How many times does this woman [Louise] have to be fucked over?!” We last see
Hal as he desperately runs after the Thunderbird in vain, as it launches off
the cliff and into the Canyon. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
last man in the film worth talking about is “Earl”, the truck driver. He is the
personified caricature of “toxic” masculinity’s sexual objectification of
women. Every encounter he has with Thelma and Louise on the road is disgusting.
He leers, hoots, hollers, makes obscene gestures, and verbally harasses them in
aggressively sexual ways. Yet, when they lure him to pull over, being an
oblivious imbecile who only sees women as things for his pleasure, he believes
he’s walking into a possible three way. Even when Thelma and Louise give him a
chance to apologize for his lewd behavior, he aggressively refuses.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When they shoot out his tires in response, he
gets irater, prompting them to blow up his tanker truck in feminist cathartic
retaliation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">In looking at the
intersections of masculinity, a greater light can be shined on these men when
looking at their interactions with each other. Among them, Darryl is less
confident, and preoccupied with cost and inconvenience, more so than his wife’s
safety. In meeting him, Hal is so unimpressed that he just finds him comical,
laughing at his antics and somewhat shocked by his ineptitude. Jimmy folds like
laundry under the slightest police pressure, while clearly dismissing JD upon
meeting him. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is also no surprise that
Darryl, is the one to be cuckhold by JD. This is framed as the ultimate insult
and the obliteration of Darryl’s fragile masculinity. As he is being led out of
questioning, JD mentions to Darryl in passing: “I really liked your wife.” This
sends Darryl into the most explosive tirade yet, having to be held back by four
police officers from attacking JD, who from a comfortable distance away, begins
to mock Darryl with sexually suggestive gestures. However, JD’s suave and swagger
instantly crumbles when he is stuck alone in a room with Hal. Hal proceeds to treat
JD like a sniveling child, berating and threatening him. Hal tells him: “If
anything happens to them, I will hold you directly responsible for your part of
it. Your ruin will be my God Damn mission in Life!” He, like Jimmy, acquiesces
to Hal’s authority and masculinity. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_u8q_25yCRNez86F6xh1BSR_GFp8-crm6LiZIjd-Y1i6N9dx6rhH4ZY2TgDXIc_Pcn9D205-Ek2eC2diZvYys9i4rbF_R4PI6lIRe1FzQqWOf8MDGZYce7mbfK3_sJ8EaC-ILIcgd11_lKn6_3O2Fdas56acPRTuOrQ8PyTFJX9NO6DUR0NgYBTIQ72J7/s620/11095081_0.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="371" data-original-width="620" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_u8q_25yCRNez86F6xh1BSR_GFp8-crm6LiZIjd-Y1i6N9dx6rhH4ZY2TgDXIc_Pcn9D205-Ek2eC2diZvYys9i4rbF_R4PI6lIRe1FzQqWOf8MDGZYce7mbfK3_sJ8EaC-ILIcgd11_lKn6_3O2Fdas56acPRTuOrQ8PyTFJX9NO6DUR0NgYBTIQ72J7/w400-h239/11095081_0.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /> <p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Sometimes,
“The Lesbian Existence” is just “Friendship” </span></i><i><span style="font-family: "Segoe UI Emoji",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-char-type: symbol-ext; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-hansi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-ligatures: none; mso-symbol-font-family: "Segoe UI Emoji";">😉</span></i><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"> </span></i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The </span><a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/features/thelma-and-louise-30-anniversary-b1850849.html"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Feminist impact</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"> of <i>Thelma and Louise </i>cannot be
overstated. Regardless of the fact that the stars and filmmakers </span><a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-57543891"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">never intended to make an exclusively feminist film</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">, the public ownership and social consequences as such, makes it one
(thank you </span><a href="https://www.asanet.org/william-i-thomas/"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">WI Thomas</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">). This feminism is empowered by
Thelma and Louise’s friendship. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">In a </span><a href="http://thesociologistsdojo.blogspot.com/2018/12/the-feminism-of-suspiria-terrifies.html"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Previous Essay</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">, I explain Adrianne Rich’s “The
Lesbian Existence”:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">In her article, Rich exclaims:<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p> </o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">“Lesbian existence comprises both the breaking of a taboo and the
rejection of a compulsory way of life. It is also a direct or indirect attack
on male right of access to women. But it is more than these, although we may
first begin to perceive it as a form of nay-saying to patriarchy, an act of
resistance. It has of course included role playing, self-hatred, breakdown,
alcoholism, suicide, and intrawoman violence; we romanticize at our peril what
it means to love and act against the grain, and under heavy penalties; and
lesbian existence has been lived (unlike, say, Jewish or Catholic existence)
without access to any knowledge of a tradition, a continuity, a social
underpinning. The destruction of records and memorabilia and letters
documenting the realities of lesbian existence must be taken very seriously as
a means of keeping heterosexuality compulsory for women, since what has been
kept from our knowledge is joy, sensuality, courage, and community, as well as
guilt, self-betrayal, and pain”<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">As the term "lesbian" has been held to limiting, clinical
associations in its patriarchal definition, female friendship and comradeship
have been set apart from the erotic, thus limiting the erotic itself. But as we
deepen and broaden the range of what we define as lesbian existence, as we
delineate a lesbian continuum, we begin to discover the erotic in female terms:
as that which is unconfined to any single part of the body or solely to the
body itself, as an energy not only diffuse but, as Audre Lorde has described it,
omnipresent in "the sharing of joy, whether physical, emotional,
psychic," and in the sharing of work; as the empowering joy which
"makes us less willing to accept powerlessness, or those other supplied
states of being which are not native to me, such as resignation, despair,
self-effacement, depression, self-denial<a name="_ftnref7"></a><a href="https://d.docs.live.net/bb5a620476910e43/Suspiria%20Review.docx#_ftn7"><span style="mso-bookmark: _ftnref7;">[7]</span><span style="mso-bookmark: _ftnref7;"></span></a><span style="mso-bookmark: _ftnref7;"></span><o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p> </o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Rich identifies in this stitched together passage, (as in the article as
a whole) that in a patriarchal system women are taught to see other women as a
source of contention and competition for male attention (Thus making
heterosexuality compulsory through socialized behaviors, reinforced by rewards
from social structural institutions (Marriage, family, Military economy etc.)),
and denying the reality of the power women have among and with each other by
placing undue emphasis on the type and nature of a relationship rather than
what that relationship provides for the individuals involved. Thus, women are
socially trained through compulsory heterosexuality and patriarchal oppression
that the most important relationships that they have are with men, and that all
other relationships are secondary within this structure.<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The journey that Thelma and Louise go on, is
one that sees a relinquishing of their primary relationships with men, while
understanding “the lesbian power” of their relationship with each other. The
arc of both Thelma and Louise is one of amalgamation. Throughout the course of
the film, they blur and blend into each other; becoming the same unified person,
together in the same place, just by different roads. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Thelma, in the
beginning of the film, actively looks up to Louise and sweetly emulates her because
she has no other role models, or really any relationships outside of
Darryl.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Thelma’s journey is punctuated
by the lines of dialogue said to her that she repeats in a different
context.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The first time that she stands
up to Darryl she uses the words Louise gave her, and when she decides to hold
up a convenience store, she cribs word for word what JD said to her the night
before.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Through these experiences,
Thelma becomes harder and a little less trusting. Whereas Louise’s edges soften
a little and she becomes more introspective (Syme 2023). However, the credit
and power of the “Lesbian Existence” is displayed when Thelma and Louise have these
heartfelt exchanges:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><u><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">One<o:p></o:p></span></u></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Louise</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">: I think I fucked up. I think I got us in a situation where we both
could get killed. I don’t know why I didn’t just go to the police right away.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Thelma</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">: <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You know why. You already said.
No one would believe us. We could still get in trouble, still have our lives
ruined. You know what else, <b>that guy was hurting me. If you hadn’t come out when
you did, he would have hurt me a lot worse, and probably nothing would have happened
to him because people saw me dancing with him all night. They would have made
out like I asked for it</b>. My life would have been ruined a heck of a lot
worse than it is now. At least now I’m having some fun, and I am not sorry that
son-of-a-bitch is dead, I’m just sorry it was you who did it and not me.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">___________________________________________________________________________
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><u><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Two<o:p></o:p></span></u></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Thelma: </span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">I know this whole thing was my fault!<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Louise: </span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Damn it, Thelma! You should know by now that none of this was your fault!<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Thelma: </span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Louise, I want you to know whatever happens, I’m glad I came with you.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">_______________________________________________________________________<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><u><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Three <o:p></o:p></span></u></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Thelma: </span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">I guess I went a little Crazy, huh?!<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Louise</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">: No, you were always this crazy. This is just the first time you’ve had
to really express yourself.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">___________________________________________________________________________<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">These examples are of two women supporting each other,
validating their choices, and moving in lock step with each other.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After the film’s release, Thelma and Louise
became the paragons of female friendships for its audience. As they clasped
their hands and rocketed into the Grand Canyon, they were subsequently launched
into the future. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is not much of a stretch
to think if you mined the Photo albums of the late 90’s, they would show women,
best friends, sisters, lovers (possibly unrequited) jumping off sand dunes,
diving boards, out of planes, or the faces of cliffs, mimicking the final
moments of the film in solidarity with Thelma, Louise, and all women. This
moment is so powerfully iconic, that it has not only been recreated in the
lives of many young people at the time, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XGhittdfewk" target="_blank">but across popular culture</a>. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><br /></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8sjAniRcoYq_bc6NnjgY4lyOr8eL9kUzV9-Yc1Rv4Uo8S0Qo-wk4xHHY9z_GgMJF70SUf11CMlWjBk2hMGJS5zKMZ_9acnIEFxykE5E_PbfG1kV3JKDhEHGUnB-DJR4aQsaOJ_Rvx_bbGy8Vwc3fItsGsVnVZVRMCswWI6YZfxYyo_Rxr_zZxr6tddWkY/s1200/philadelphia_crime_07192021_1.webp" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="1200" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8sjAniRcoYq_bc6NnjgY4lyOr8eL9kUzV9-Yc1Rv4Uo8S0Qo-wk4xHHY9z_GgMJF70SUf11CMlWjBk2hMGJS5zKMZ_9acnIEFxykE5E_PbfG1kV3JKDhEHGUnB-DJR4aQsaOJ_Rvx_bbGy8Vwc3fItsGsVnVZVRMCswWI6YZfxYyo_Rxr_zZxr6tddWkY/w400-h266/philadelphia_crime_07192021_1.webp" width="400" /></a></div><br /><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><br /></span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Queer Coded and Claimed <o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>When
looking at the basic plot structure of <i>Thelma and Louise, </i>it is obviously
a queer coded story. A quick and easy queer reading of the story could be: Two
women, unsatisfied with their lives with their heterosexual male partners, decide
to go off for a weekend alone. As they leave their lives behind them and begin
to relax, they are haunted and hunted by the heterosexist white male patriarchy
in the forms of a would-be rapist, Truck driver, and the army of police and
federal agents after them. The story that unfolds is allegorically damning
their love and annihilating their existence. First, they are enticed with the
bait of the heterosexual female gaze, in the form of JD. Then, the patriarchy
tries overt objectification through the Truck Driver. But at every turn Thelma
and Louise choose resistance and coupleship, each refusing to leave the other’s
side. In the final moments of the film, when the police are ready to assassinate
them, to put an end to their queer subversion; Thelma and Louise know that if
they surrender and are somehow not murdered by the army at their back, that
they will be separated, never to see each other again. Rather than life in a
heterosexist patriarchal cage, torn from the one they love, Thelma and Louise choose
love and death on their own terms. With their fate decided, the passion they
have held for each other finally breaks free of its heteronormative bonds and
they share a short but intense kiss of romance, recognition, and resolve. They
choose love over the cage that was their former lives. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/SXbUNuTQJds" width="320" youtube-src-id="SXbUNuTQJds"></iframe></div><br /><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><br /></span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><u><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Examples of Queer Coded Dialogue:<o:p></o:p></span></u></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><u><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">One<o:p></o:p></span></u></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Thelma: </span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">You’re not gonna give up on me, are you?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Louise: </span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Thelma, I’m not making any deals.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Thelma: </span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">In a way I get it, that way you’ll have something to go back to [beat]
with Jimmy. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Louise: Jimmy’s not an option</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Thelma: </span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Listen, <b>something has…crossed over in me. I just can’t go back. <o:p></o:p></b></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Louise: I know. I know what you mean.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">___________________________________________________________________________<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><u><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Two: (very next scene)<o:p></o:p></span></u></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Thelma: </span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">You awake?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Louise: </span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">I guess you could say that; my eyes are open.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Thelma: </span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Me too, I feel awake.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Louise: </span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Good.<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Thelma: </span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Wide awake. I don’t remember feeling this awake, you know what I mean?
Everything looks different. You ever feel that way, like you have something to
look forward to? <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Louise: </span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">We’ll be drinking Margaritas by the sea, mamacita. <b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></b></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">_____________________________________________________________________________<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><u><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Three:<o:p></o:p></span></u></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Thelma: </span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">What are you doing?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Louise: </span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">{Loads and chambers her pistol] Look, I’m not giving up.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Thelma: </span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Ok, then. Listen, let’s not get caught.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Louise: </span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">What are you talking about?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Thelma:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"> Keep going. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Louise: </span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">What do you mean?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Thelma: </span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">[Gestures to the cliff] Go.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Louise: </span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">[Smiling and Crying] You sure? <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Thelma: </span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">[Nods] Yeah. Yeah. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><b><u>Louise Grabs Thelma and Kisses her.</u></b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">____________________________________________________________________________
</span><b style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;"> </b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>One of
the reasons this dialogue can be queer coded and not explicit is due to the
historical time period of its release. At the time of the film’s production, in
the US, gays and lesbians were scapegoated into being the cause of the AIDS
epidemic, labeling it “the gay plague”. With the moral objection to non-heterosexual
sexualities increasing as AIDs case numbers rose, mainstream popular culture
was reticent to explicitly provide open and direct queer representation without
fear of reprisals.<a href="https://d.docs.live.net/bb5a620476910e43/Documents/Sociologists%20Dojo/Thelma%20and%20Louise%20Essay.docx#_ftn5" name="_ftnref5" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn5;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">[5]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
Therefore, the LGBTQAI+ community had to comb film, TV, music and other popular
culture for subtextual breadcrumbs in order to satisfy their hunger. Yet, even today,
while the Queer community are not starving for representation, they have never
had a full meal.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In 2021, the annual GLAAD
report on representation in media found that only <a href="https://glaad.org/sri/2022/overview/">20.8% of films that year contained LGBTQ
characters</a>. However, this was not equally distributed throughout the group.
Most of these characters were gay men with Bisexual and Trans people having the
least representation among them. This decreased even further when the report
factored in race and had no representation of non-heterosexuals with
disabilities. Secondarily, even when representation is achieved it is usually
in declaration only. Many gay characters today are not allowed <b>to be </b>gay.
Even with 20% representation in 2021, far fewer numbers are also showing
affection, the dating process, romantic rejection, fights, and reconciliation.
Basically, being gay without showing it. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At least with Thelma and Louise we got a kiss
before dying… That’s more than some studios will allow, even today. <a href="https://d.docs.live.net/bb5a620476910e43/Documents/Sociologists%20Dojo/Thelma%20and%20Louise%20Essay.docx#_ftn6" name="_ftnref6" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn6;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">[6]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/-dUYR2apxdA" width="320" youtube-src-id="-dUYR2apxdA"></iframe></div><br /><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><i>Thelma
and Louise: Appropriating tools to knock down the House<o:p></o:p></i></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">In a heterosexist
white male Patriarchy the escalation of violence is the result of noncompliance,
not compassion and empathy. Therefore, what started out as a clear action of
self-defense, accelerates into an inter-state chase, robbery, and assault,
because the Masculine institution of The Criminal Justice System can not be
compromised with, nor will it reckon with its misogyny and rape culture, the
components of which, are the reason Thelma and Louise decided to flee in the first
place. When developing the film, writer Callie Khouri talked to police officers
and asked them what would be said to alleged criminals once cornered. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">She put their response
in the film, verbatim:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><b><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Any failure to obey
our commands will be considered an act of aggression against us.</span></i></b><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"> <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">She might as well have had the police say “Signed, “The
Patriarchy”” <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></i></b></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p> </o:p></span></i></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>As Thelma
and Louise slough off their traditional femininity (Thelma more so than Louise)
and break free from the patriarchal power and control that has ruled or
overshadowed their lives for so long; they also begin to accumulate items,
behaviors and attitudes that are more masculine. With each set piece in the
film, they shed a little more of tradition, and move away from acceptable femininity.
As stated earlier, this can be read as the adoption of a gender fluid and queer
coded context. But it also can be seen as an attempt to use the tools of the
oppressor against them. Couple this with the uncompromising nature of the
system, and the result is when an unstoppable force (Unbridled Feminism) meets
an immovable object (The Patriarchy). Unfortunately, Thelma and Louise learn that
the more they push back against the carceral system and actively resist using
the tools of violence they have acquired, might keep them going, but it won’t
provide liberation.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Audre Lorde (2007) said it best:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">“<i>The Master’s tools will never dismantle the Master’s
house. They may allow us to temporarily beat him at his own game, but it will never
enable us to bring about genuine change.”<o:p></o:p></i></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Thelma and Louise
aren’t changing the world with their actions, they are just trying to eke out an
existence based upon the terrible choices they have been given.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As horrible as choices can be, like the
choice between getting shot or driving off a cliff, bad; you still have to make
them. Thelma and Louise choose the latter, because even though the master’s
tools won’t ever dismantle the master’s house, it doesn’t mean that you have to
live there. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></i></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><br /></span></i></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjnl0GKGIPs_To51YOWHBu6apyZfff6h5wSc5fYDF6sl2jPP5Tw8B4tPiCDLpwbwYN31CpZKwupwTEbBR7v0CfERJGutSfXQHbzq97BlFZAneOBJ9mlQV9tZkZNos1WsKyiMl18hDMnKYZCW3NHt1hOtgvrbnYBTvgyN6wqn7KbSysGc7ijudHHlEiPzP0/s1271/B9lSVCGIAAM7LCK.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1271" data-original-width="736" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjnl0GKGIPs_To51YOWHBu6apyZfff6h5wSc5fYDF6sl2jPP5Tw8B4tPiCDLpwbwYN31CpZKwupwTEbBR7v0CfERJGutSfXQHbzq97BlFZAneOBJ9mlQV9tZkZNos1WsKyiMl18hDMnKYZCW3NHt1hOtgvrbnYBTvgyN6wqn7KbSysGc7ijudHHlEiPzP0/w231-h400/B9lSVCGIAAM7LCK.jpg" width="231" /></a></b></div><b><br /></b><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">CONCLUSION <o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Thelma and Louise </span></i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">is an iconic Feminist Masterpiece.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>A generation later, it is still inspiring and foundational to both
individuals, communities and causes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
more you watch, the deeper the analysis and appreciation goes. The filmmakers
believed that they cracked a glass ceiling with the success of this film and
that more films like it would flow from the breech. While we have seen a steady
increase in female led films in a variety of genres, there has never been
another Thelma or Louise. They remain frozen in mid-air on their pedestal,
daring us to follow them. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">REFERENCES <o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; text-indent: -.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Connell R. W. 1995. <i>Masculinities </i>California: University of California
Press <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; text-indent: -.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Friedan Betty 1963. <i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
Feminine Mystique </i>New York: <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>W.W.
Norton and Company Press <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; text-indent: -.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Khouri Callie 2011. “20th Anniversary Edition: Callie Khouri Looks Back
on Thelma & Louise.” In <i>Script Magazine </i>retrieved at <a href="https://scriptmag.com/features/20th-anniversary-edition-callie-khouri-looks-back-on-thelma-louise">https://scriptmag.com/features/20th-anniversary-edition-callie-khouri-looks-back-on-thelma-louise</a>
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; text-indent: -.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Kiang, Jessica 2023. “Three Routes through <i>Thelma and Louise: </i>How The
West Was Won.” New York: The Criterion Collection <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></i></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; text-indent: -.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Lorde, Audre 2007. “The Master’s Tools will Never Dismantle the Master’s
House.” <i>Sister Outsider </i>California, Crossing Press<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; text-indent: -.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Scott, Ridley 1991. <i>Thelma and Louise </i>MGM<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; text-indent: -.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Syme, Rachel 2023. “Three Roads through <i>Thelma and Louise</i>: Bringing
to Life.” In <i>Current </i>New York: The Criterion Collection <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; text-indent: -.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Valenti, Jessica 2007. <i>Full Frontal Feminism: A Young Woman’s Guide to
Why Feminism Matters </i>New York: Seal Press <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<div style="mso-element: footnote-list;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><br clear="all" />
<hr align="left" size="1" width="33%" />
<!--[endif]-->
<div id="ftn1" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<p class="MsoFootnoteText"><a href="https://d.docs.live.net/bb5a620476910e43/Documents/Sociologists%20Dojo/Thelma%20and%20Louise%20Essay.docx#_ftnref1" name="_ftn1" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn1;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[1]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
I’ll come back to this idea of clothing again in Social Analysis <o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="ftn2" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><a href="https://d.docs.live.net/bb5a620476910e43/Documents/Sociologists%20Dojo/Thelma%20and%20Louise%20Essay.docx#_ftnref2" name="_ftn2" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn2;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[2]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;">There
is a legitimate argument against organizing feminism into particular waves</span>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">According to Rory Dicker (2008):<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i>"Approaching
Feminism as a collective project aimed at eradicating sexism and domination
seems the most practical way to continue feminist work. Quibbling about which
wave we are in now or in whether I think of myself as a second, third, or
fourth waver hardly seems a good use of my limited time; instead, I'd like to
see sustained feminist activism performed by young, middle-aged and old
women-separately or better yet, together."</i><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p> </o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoFootnoteText"><o:p> </o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="ftn3" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<p class="MsoFootnoteText"><a href="https://d.docs.live.net/bb5a620476910e43/Documents/Sociologists%20Dojo/Thelma%20and%20Louise%20Essay.docx#_ftnref3" name="_ftn3" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn3;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[3]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a> An
attempt to reclaim feminine beauty and body norms as feminist and not just a
symbol of traditional patriarchal gender norms.<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="ftn4" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<p class="MsoFootnoteText"><a href="https://d.docs.live.net/bb5a620476910e43/Documents/Sociologists%20Dojo/Thelma%20and%20Louise%20Essay.docx#_ftnref4" name="_ftn4" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn4;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[4]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a> Plus,
it would take A LOT more than $6000 to sleep with Brad Pitt nowadays<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="ftn5" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<p class="MsoFootnoteText"><a href="https://d.docs.live.net/bb5a620476910e43/Documents/Sociologists%20Dojo/Thelma%20and%20Louise%20Essay.docx#_ftnref5" name="_ftn5" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn5;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[5]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
Much of the direct queer representation came a little later in the 90’s but
were mainly independent films <o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="ftn6" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<p class="MsoFootnoteText"><a href="https://d.docs.live.net/bb5a620476910e43/Documents/Sociologists%20Dojo/Thelma%20and%20Louise%20Essay.docx#_ftnref6" name="_ftn6" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn6;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[6]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a> I
am looking at you Disney! Also, <span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">does that count as a <a href="https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/BuryYourGays">“Bury your Gays</a>”
trope if the Queer representation is coded and claimed rather than explicit?</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"> </span><o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
</div>Brian Brutlaghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08099644007940320266noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8714941782515128558.post-20270574056408278712023-06-01T00:00:00.061-07:002023-06-01T00:00:00.144-07:00A Decade with 'The Dojo': Ten Years, Top Ten Essays. <p> </p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkaQbqD4s9M0fQ2FhDB7U6eDE2O3qUhVr2i7SNffKYpS7yFZ83lvoCXA5hJUer2wfpqSIF82hb2oqtyJrkYGlXLVA-y0CgZLhTBCaL9Yhz19Yq9TITB8_5z4A5_W5rQiA2Y6rHGakZg6mdHzU9JUrio3_ywDmpZX1kmvNWkgrVd2nRKcVvlsxKUO7ObA/s1280/Slide1.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="1280" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkaQbqD4s9M0fQ2FhDB7U6eDE2O3qUhVr2i7SNffKYpS7yFZ83lvoCXA5hJUer2wfpqSIF82hb2oqtyJrkYGlXLVA-y0CgZLhTBCaL9Yhz19Yq9TITB8_5z4A5_W5rQiA2Y6rHGakZg6mdHzU9JUrio3_ywDmpZX1kmvNWkgrVd2nRKcVvlsxKUO7ObA/w400-h225/Slide1.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><br /><p style="text-align: center;"><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>
</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">On June 19<sup>th</sup>
2023, </span><a href="http://thesociologistsdojo.blogspot.com/"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The
Sociologist’s Dojo blog</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"> will celebrate its 10<sup>th</sup>
anniversary. In this brief paper, I will look back on the last ten years of
Sociological film analysis, and give “The Dojo’s: Ten years, Top Ten essays.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The criterion for this curated list is eclectic;
some essays are chosen for their significance to the blog, others are selected
because they are connected to specific historical events at the time, while
others are selected because of personal interest, they are well written, or
haven’t been viewed/read by many people. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgn_mlzlVmPqKNkVlu6S28DNzqlkMDgIOu4jZZF6PC4KEAFx5e4HoP8lZI1EulYjrfs1zXkv3CzZO6VYw8bCDYE_k7qDMhg6yHL97-hekiVGeG-gK_RZnJ5z_cqOtyVT8I4T1jmEArVupUs4EeiclQzBUMDgcurzcs_ovpmhifKcBqHZhPEItdV_I-4lQ/s237/images2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="237" data-original-width="213" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgn_mlzlVmPqKNkVlu6S28DNzqlkMDgIOu4jZZF6PC4KEAFx5e4HoP8lZI1EulYjrfs1zXkv3CzZO6VYw8bCDYE_k7qDMhg6yHL97-hekiVGeG-gK_RZnJ5z_cqOtyVT8I4T1jmEArVupUs4EeiclQzBUMDgcurzcs_ovpmhifKcBqHZhPEItdV_I-4lQ/w287-h320/images2.jpg" width="287" /></a></div><br /><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">ORIGINS <o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The following story also recounted in </span></i><a href="https://directory.libsyn.com/episode/index/show/thesociologistsdojo/id/16439192"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Episode
1 of the Podcast</span></i></a><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">, and the </span></i><a href="https://www.thesocialbreakdown.com/2020/04/01/soc312-zen-and-the-white-male-savior-in-film-guest-edition/"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Episode
312: Zen and the White Male Savior in Film</span></i></a><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">
from </span></i><a href="https://www.thesocialbreakdown.com/"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The
Social Breakdown Podcast</span></i></a><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"> <o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span></span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The
start of the blog began with my first viewing of Zack Snyder’s <i>Man of Steel</i>
in June of 2013. Being such a Superman fan since I was a young child, and
growing up on the Richard Donner/Christopher Reeve Superman, I could not believe
that this paragon of goodness, the best reflection of humanity, was a bleakly
morose brooding child whose parents tell them to let people die, including
themselves, and that secrets, above everything else, are worth keeping. In
addition to the now typical criticisms of wanton destruction, civilian deaths,
and Superman murdering Zod…Krypton’s Sun was Yellow!!! <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;"><o:p> </o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;">Zack
Snyder's 'Man of Steel' is such a bloated, shaky, incoherent mess, it robs
Superman of his majesty, grace, morality, and above all...hope. Snyder
"accomplishes" this through a disjointed plot, two-
dimensional/underdeveloped characters, poorly written dialogue, and sloppy
direction</span></i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">. (</span><a href="http://thesociologistsdojo.blogspot.com/2013/06/man-of-steel-review.html"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Man
of Steel Review)</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The film was an abysmal mess,
and I could not let it go. My rage did not subside as I started to think about
the many ways that the film misrepresented the character of Superman. I began
to think about what Superman was as a cultural product, and what the imagery of
Superman represented in the public consciousness. Initially, I was doing this
to provide some “evidence” and justification for my hatred of the film (not
good research, to be certain). Yet, as I started to breakdown the character,
applying concepts that I had learned from my expertise and training about
masculinity and religion, I really got into thinking about film and popular
culture in an academic way. So, I started a blog.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Externally, I told myself
that the reason I chose the blog as the initial format for my content is
because I wanted to be like </span><a href="http://thesociologistsdojo.blogspot.com/2017/01/sociologist-spotlight-c-wright-mills.html"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Sociologist
C. Wright Mills</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">; to be a public intellectual and engage
in </span><a href="http://thesociologistsdojo.blogspot.com/2014/02/public-sociology-and-problem-of.html"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“Public
Sociology”</span></a><span class="MsoHyperlink"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">. Public Sociology is</span></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">
a style of sociology that seeks to engage directly with the public to help
foster more immediate and (possibly) greater social change. Internally, not
unlike many of the egoistic fascist-like douche bag overtly masculine directors
I despise, I wanted to keep “my vision” of the blog pure. Truthfully, I did not
want to deal with the anxiety and feelings of rejection that come with academic
publishing because I was afraid of rejection, and I did not want to deal with
criticism. A self-published blog was the easiest way to achieve that.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">What’s in a Name?<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">I chose the name “The Sociologist’s Dojo” for a couple
of reasons. The first is that the name and the content represent my three main
life passions: Sociology, the martial arts, and film and popular culture. All
these things represent me, and my interests. Secondarily, aside from sounding
cool, I asked the question: “Where is the Sociologist’s Dojo?” Where do they
learn and train to hone their skills? We would traditionally see this to be in
the ivory tower of academia, but in practice, it is within society.
Sociologists are different than any other type of scientist in that we
constantly participate in the very things that we study. Even we cannot escape
cultural and social norms that we have been socialized to follow. The name is
intended to reflect all of this. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The Shifts in Focus <o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">At the onset, the beginning of the blog had a much
broader focus to cover comics, and martial arts. While some of the early essays
reflect this broader scope, it was more so a starting point, raw materials that
needed to be refined.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Trivia: The first post on the blog wasn’t an essay, it
was a </span><a href="http://thesociologistsdojo.blogspot.com/2013/06/welcome.html"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">‘Welcome’:</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;">Greetings all,<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;"><o:p> </o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;">I
created this blog as a space to discuss the things that I love: Sociology,
Martial Arts, Superheroes, Books and Cinema.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>This blog will focus on the social analysis of popular culture, Martial
Arts and anything that I feel is "Geek" worthy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Essentially, the posts that are to follow are
going to be rants and/or raves about society, culture, social theory, martial
arts, movies, and virtually anything else that comes into my head.<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;"><o:p> </o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;">Enjoy
:) <o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;"><o:p> </o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">As I continued to refine my writing skills and find
the voice of the blog, I began to narrow my focus to specifically film and
popular culture. In that, I started to think about in-depth analysis of film
from a Sociological Perspective which led to a shedding of a lot of comics and
martial arts content, though it does come up again sporadically. One of the
biggest shifts, early on, was the development of my ongoing series on a
director’s filmography. In the ten years of the blog, I have covered the films
of </span><a href="http://thesociologistsdojo.blogspot.com/2013/07/the-films-of-christopher-nolan_3.html"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Christopher
Nolan</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">, </span><a href="http://thesociologistsdojo.blogspot.com/2018/12/the-films-of-hayao-miyazaki-introduction.html"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Hayao
Miyazaki</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">, </span><a href="http://thesociologistsdojo.blogspot.com/2022/09/the-films-of-karyn-kusama-introduction.html"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Karyn
Kusama</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"> and </span><a href="http://thesociologistsdojo.blogspot.com/2021/06/the-chambara-films-of-akira-kurosawa.html"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The
Chambara films of Akira Kurosawa</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">. As this feature
continues, I will attempt to do more Avant Garde and less mainstream directors,
while trying to include as many women and people of color as possible. Also, I <b><i><u>will
not</u></i></b> be covering the white male darlings of 70’s new Hollywood
(Scorsese, Coppola, Lucas, Spielberg, Cameron, Kubrick). <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Conversely, there were
things that I have written about in the early days, that I will not do anymore
or have moved away from. Early on, there were straight reviews for films with
little Sociological analysis, such as the reviews for </span><a href="http://thesociologistsdojo.blogspot.com/2014/08/guardians-of-galaxy-review.html"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Guardians
of the Galaxy</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">, </span><a href="http://thesociologistsdojo.blogspot.com/2013/10/the-pull-of-gravity-movie-review.html"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Gravity</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">,
or </span><a href="http://thesociologistsdojo.blogspot.com/2014/04/transcendence-relies-on-audience-in.html"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Transcendence</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">
(yeesh!). I eventually ended my straight reviews, without a specific
Sociological bent to it with </span><a href="http://thesociologistsdojo.blogspot.com/2014/06/x-men-days-of-future-past-review.html"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">X-Men:
Days of Future Past</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"> when I began to develop the (now) typical
structure for the film review that can be found in the Analytical essay for </span><a href="http://thesociologistsdojo.blogspot.com/2018/03/logan-review.html"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">James
Mangold’s<i> Logan</i>. </span><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></i></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Additionally,
where I used to write a lot about the character of Batman, given </span><a href="http://thesociologistsdojo.blogspot.com/2015/07/christopher-nolans-dark-knight-trilogy.html"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“The
Dark Knight Trilogy</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">”, as of my essay on police brutality and
popular culture during the 2020 protests (see below), I will no longer writing
about Batman. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoAwzBTEmC7_vuSGuVYYLY9wX_Q_SYz6ZyIbn66Da3WNxKdvBPUntvzLWrDfFv1Br5Vdeg1z4LRL1y4kyEKCeWvfi8HcpYe0F0utGzWfJyePQ7C_YTaje5zvbuZD3lHI9K3brADZBkiWAfx1agDjPrx_0c0OMZ2ZVnw1RFfbyKDj3QKHfjZnhrIh8oSA/s301/316Fe5UA-fL._SX331_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="167" data-original-width="301" height="223" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoAwzBTEmC7_vuSGuVYYLY9wX_Q_SYz6ZyIbn66Da3WNxKdvBPUntvzLWrDfFv1Br5Vdeg1z4LRL1y4kyEKCeWvfi8HcpYe0F0utGzWfJyePQ7C_YTaje5zvbuZD3lHI9K3brADZBkiWAfx1agDjPrx_0c0OMZ2ZVnw1RFfbyKDj3QKHfjZnhrIh8oSA/w400-h223/316Fe5UA-fL._SX331_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">TEN YEARS, TOP TEN ESSAYS IN ‘THE
SOCIOOLOGIST’S DOJO’</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">With each of the essays that I will highlight in this
section I will give some greater context of the blog:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 22.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQTg-wazHm0F2Ne048QaIZWoE7xIMBcLmSkGrrVoAPIeKHfJ2Dz-WVJf2LwfZPNsDdE2dvEHjbmWfTyOCZBA7V944Sv7D8vOOe8PBTAu6ZAMIdImvH3x2SyL1EKtXZJV_8LZZQTv57HEzBBW-LLtB5_y5-KOFnA1Uj1JpO5H6-2z9sc9Aqz3WlP2qEtA/s606/superman-infographic-FULL4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="606" data-original-width="590" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQTg-wazHm0F2Ne048QaIZWoE7xIMBcLmSkGrrVoAPIeKHfJ2Dz-WVJf2LwfZPNsDdE2dvEHjbmWfTyOCZBA7V944Sv7D8vOOe8PBTAu6ZAMIdImvH3x2SyL1EKtXZJV_8LZZQTv57HEzBBW-LLtB5_y5-KOFnA1Uj1JpO5H6-2z9sc9Aqz3WlP2qEtA/s320/superman-infographic-FULL4.jpg" width="312" /></a></div><br /><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 22.0pt; line-height: 107%;">2013: </span><a href="http://thesociologistsdojo.blogspot.com/2013/06/man-of-steel-review-part-ii-social.html"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 22.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Man
of Steel Review Part II Analysis of an Icon</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 22.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Where
it all started. This year saw the most essays written for the blog in a single
year and started the director series with </span><a href="http://thesociologistsdojo.blogspot.com/search/label/The%20Films%20of%20Christopher%20Nolan"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The
Films of Christopher Nolan</span></i></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">. This year, the essay
that really stands out for me is the essay “’Man of Steel’ Review part II:
Analysis of an Icon” the second part of my evisceration of Zack Snyder’s <i>Man
of Steel.</i> This essay was the first breath of what the blog would eventually
become. I also came back to this subject years later with the second Podcast
episode </span><a href="https://directory.libsyn.com/episode/index/show/thesociologistsdojo/id/16809683"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“Sparring
with Superman.”</span></a><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p></o:p></span></i></p><p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgR-t5_3KwXYfKKj3I6ArkGrau33xn_32467HHfKrQOHYUtRfGgw3R5uGTVGg1Z0Bi-EnQBzjh38dCEShvSYdyaAfrH6ZPzjP0k6KoqPaICA-67A26frPEuUyVPFL3WRTvrY54LQPvAqpHTSMlWnYT8BpfIH1p_ejT0HWVxXE_nd3v9PRj4YzgXpJfQ6A/s1280/ferguson-missouri-9.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="1280" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgR-t5_3KwXYfKKj3I6ArkGrau33xn_32467HHfKrQOHYUtRfGgw3R5uGTVGg1Z0Bi-EnQBzjh38dCEShvSYdyaAfrH6ZPzjP0k6KoqPaICA-67A26frPEuUyVPFL3WRTvrY54LQPvAqpHTSMlWnYT8BpfIH1p_ejT0HWVxXE_nd3v9PRj4YzgXpJfQ6A/w400-h225/ferguson-missouri-9.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><br /></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 22.0pt; line-height: 107%;">2014: </span><a href="http://thesociologistsdojo.blogspot.com/2014/10/the-films-of-christopher-nolan-dark.html"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 22.0pt; line-height: 107%;">TFCN:
The Dark Knight Rises</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 22.0pt; line-height: 107%;"> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>During
the second year of the blog the structure of the essays and the focus of the
blog began to crystallize. But still there were less analytical essays and
pieces on current pop cultural news that became too difficult to keep up with.
This year also saw essays on </span><a href="http://thesociologistsdojo.blogspot.com/2014/08/sociology-alert-ferguson-popular-media.html"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">the
Michael Brown murder in Ferguson</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"> and an early review of
Bong Joon Ho’s <i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></i></span><a href="http://thesociologistsdojo.blogspot.com/2014/07/snowpiercer-review-marxian-weberian.html"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Snowpiercer</span></i></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">.
The essay that is important out of this sophomore year is the essay on <i>The
Dark Knight Rises </i>which signifies the solidification of the structure of
the blogs essay analysis. <i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><br /></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg50ExK6aAldR_HwotKDEPkPyxNm2ggwaP1BLRp5r4QXzhoH6rUlh2Ew2lCmpmb0aQK_LLIOW5ureLIIj5RA5Csilv015eJpa-__O52-IFaD5HzNToTGHgu0q5rdkwm77CGHDggGONI9KusateAC8qye0DnystT2GEVwNlnWtqGEFhIyjam6vyEbKVjwQ/s1080/avengers-2-black-widow1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="1080" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg50ExK6aAldR_HwotKDEPkPyxNm2ggwaP1BLRp5r4QXzhoH6rUlh2Ew2lCmpmb0aQK_LLIOW5ureLIIj5RA5Csilv015eJpa-__O52-IFaD5HzNToTGHgu0q5rdkwm77CGHDggGONI9KusateAC8qye0DnystT2GEVwNlnWtqGEFhIyjam6vyEbKVjwQ/s320/avengers-2-black-widow1.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiV7aS4T-UV3X6wg57KD_MhnUS7rnYoimjcVJnKUkjkhokcUCTZqmleRfynD6twZ2wWudCLloL8-912wNHMq5MPdrnVFw1kgNvtA0tn6WNFO5qt0fvS8ZZVQY2YAuXyXRBIXy8faOSWwJrt9PlHTGT0ly1_lYs0owmH_ZGPHARhezDX8afR4wQwZJffSQ/s540/mad%20max%20furiosa.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="304" data-original-width="540" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiV7aS4T-UV3X6wg57KD_MhnUS7rnYoimjcVJnKUkjkhokcUCTZqmleRfynD6twZ2wWudCLloL8-912wNHMq5MPdrnVFw1kgNvtA0tn6WNFO5qt0fvS8ZZVQY2YAuXyXRBIXy8faOSWwJrt9PlHTGT0ly1_lYs0owmH_ZGPHARhezDX8afR4wQwZJffSQ/s320/mad%20max%20furiosa.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /> <o:p></o:p><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 22.0pt; line-height: 107%;">2015: </span><a href="http://thesociologistsdojo.blogspot.com/2015/06/the-furious-age-of-feminism-mad-max-and.html"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 22.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The
Furious Age of Feminism: The Mad Max and Avengers' Gender Controversy</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 22.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The
third year of the blog saw some misfires with the soft commitment to writing a </span><a href="http://thesociologistsdojo.blogspot.com/2015/11/comics-character-profile-ccp.html"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“Comics
Character Profile”</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"> This idea was later scrapped when I realized
that I just wanted to write on one of my favorite characters: </span><a href="http://thesociologistsdojo.blogspot.com/2015/11/comics-character-profile-john.html"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">John
Constantine</span></i></a><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">. </span></i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">I later repeat this
mistake in 2017. 2015 also had several “Sociological Alert essays on the </span><a href="http://thesociologistsdojo.blogspot.com/2015/11/sociology-alert-parisian-terror-and.html"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Paris
attacks</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">, and </span><a href="http://thesociologistsdojo.blogspot.com/2015/06/sociology-alert-scotuss-sweet-jam-of.html"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Marriage
Equality </span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>as well </span><a href="http://thesociologistsdojo.blogspot.com/2015/06/sociology-alert-racist-media-dance.html"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">as
Rachel Dolezal and the Domestic Terrorism of Dylan Roof</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">.
I would often use the phrase “Sociology Alert” to convey that the essays would
be more societal/current event focus and not localized to films (Last used in
2021). However, there was an intersection of current events and film with the
very different blowback felt by <i>Avengers: Age of Ultron </i>and <i>Mad Max:
Fury Road </i>each sexist and anti-feminist in nature. This is what let to that
essay getting the spotlight. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><br /></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9bH_smp204skwxFQ3i133Vrre0c-lFUfwN4Fd4FlX6zOi-k47c4E90WoxB3PJETYPjw3MkxkOjS3MLEqCiR5xuZ0PzPpuBlaIOPAs28h5XPpsbtfNeZqswkpykEImXfhnBcVbBpT_3OMwNlzt_4LhHdLgyABwAXmk6gzCa76QGHgobtkSj26DsUDpzA/s2000/clinton%20and%20sponsored%20content.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1207" data-original-width="2000" height="241" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9bH_smp204skwxFQ3i133Vrre0c-lFUfwN4Fd4FlX6zOi-k47c4E90WoxB3PJETYPjw3MkxkOjS3MLEqCiR5xuZ0PzPpuBlaIOPAs28h5XPpsbtfNeZqswkpykEImXfhnBcVbBpT_3OMwNlzt_4LhHdLgyABwAXmk6gzCa76QGHgobtkSj26DsUDpzA/w400-h241/clinton%20and%20sponsored%20content.png" width="400" /></a></div><br /><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><br /></span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 22.0pt; line-height: 107%;">2016: </span><a href="http://thesociologistsdojo.blogspot.com/2016/12/the-machete-cut-and-diminishing-margin.html"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 22.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The
Machete Cut and the Diminishing Margin Utility of Star Wars</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 22.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Year
four of the blog begins the lean years. This was a period of 3 years where I
was building new curriculum, writing new degrees/courses and going through a
personal crisis or two, that did not leave a lot of room for non-work-related
fun essay writing. However, I still managed to write my “Trump Analysis
Trilogy” three interlocking essays which served as my process for working
through the events of the 2016 election.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><a href="http://thesociologistsdojo.blogspot.com/2016/10/donald-trump-and-rise-of-reality.html"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Part
I: “Donald Trump and the Rise of Reality Politics”</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><a href="http://thesociologistsdojo.blogspot.com/2016/11/a-trumped-up-future-shaping-of-45th.html"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Part
II: A ‘Trumped up’ Future: The Shaping of the 45<sup>th</sup> Presidency </span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><a href="http://thesociologistsdojo.blogspot.com/2016/12/racism-donald-trump-and-price-of.html"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Part
III: Racism, Donald Trump and the Price of Nostalgia </span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Additionally, in the space of film and popular culture,
we were amidst a new Star Wars Trilogy, and I decided to watch the original
trilogy in the famed “Machete” order and realized that perhaps, I do not like
Star Wars as much as I thought I did. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><br /></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQgI0be1uqnnks_V-nUBgKK_6KD65jelGD1jTPySR-flWwRpxAD1_GPPRNZ_RF0RBq2NvWM9NOCMedwv3yCLLSebO-ecNSmzf0hjePaAhSKTlCs8ZLCGtNQUnoljqQD73S4KJypcjc7vYtQhYOMEG6HFY8wLqUw7Ys26Ris56elVJZiPK_VkE3rTq56g/s251/20170123_141715.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="201" data-original-width="251" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQgI0be1uqnnks_V-nUBgKK_6KD65jelGD1jTPySR-flWwRpxAD1_GPPRNZ_RF0RBq2NvWM9NOCMedwv3yCLLSebO-ecNSmzf0hjePaAhSKTlCs8ZLCGtNQUnoljqQD73S4KJypcjc7vYtQhYOMEG6HFY8wLqUw7Ys26Ris56elVJZiPK_VkE3rTq56g/w400-h320/20170123_141715.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><br /></span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 22.0pt; line-height: 107%;">2017: </span><a href="http://thesociologistsdojo.blogspot.com/2017/06/the-distilled-and-sterilized-feminism.html"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 22.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The
Distilled and Sterilized Feminism of <i>Wonder Woman</i></span></a><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 22.0pt; line-height: 107%;"> <o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The beginning of the
fifth year of the blog saw another awkwardly introduced, but never followed
through, segment spotlighting Social theorists when all I really wanted to talk
about was </span><a href="http://thesociologistsdojo.blogspot.com/2017/01/sociologist-spotlight-c-wright-mills.html"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">C.
Wright Mills</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">. I also wrote a bonus essay not included
in the <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Trump Analysis Trilogy” discussing
</span><a href="http://thesociologistsdojo.blogspot.com/2017/02/trump-propaganda-and-linguistic.html"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“Trump,
Propaganda and Linguistic Imperialism” </span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">This year also saw the
first essay of a new film by a director I had already covered (Nolan’s </span><a href="http://thesociologistsdojo.blogspot.com/2017/07/the-films-of-christopher-nolan-dunkirk.html"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Dunkirk</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">).
Yet, the essay I chose to spotlight here, goes back to the misfire of Patty
Jenkin’s <i>Wonder Woman </i>and how the character in the Zack Snyder DCEU did
not work. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><br /></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihlFPqc4g28xd4NSdSZsf6jO1WkIppOwCqtvnhR2SrhvFik_jwq37mLn7OjD_NGDPvXAz4DNoIYM-DhuMvPIx6TJdu3J5Lx65CWsiWXQanhS5WsR1WkBboLNby7fk0ihgdYw4EvOSFnN9a_FhKasgGH41ZrENRANXnajYACAcEhday_7IzZ1y9hVigsQ/s800/20170123_141715.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="445" data-original-width="800" height="223" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihlFPqc4g28xd4NSdSZsf6jO1WkIppOwCqtvnhR2SrhvFik_jwq37mLn7OjD_NGDPvXAz4DNoIYM-DhuMvPIx6TJdu3J5Lx65CWsiWXQanhS5WsR1WkBboLNby7fk0ihgdYw4EvOSFnN9a_FhKasgGH41ZrENRANXnajYACAcEhday_7IzZ1y9hVigsQ/w400-h223/20170123_141715.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><br /></span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 22.0pt; line-height: 107%;">2018:</span> <a href="http://thesociologistsdojo.blogspot.com/2018/12/the-feminism-of-suspiria-terrifies.html"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 22.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The
Feminism of “Suspiria” terrifies the Patriarchy</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 22.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>In
2018, the blog had a lot of firsts. It saw the beginning of the series on </span><a href="http://thesociologistsdojo.blogspot.com/search/label/The%20Films%20of%20%20Hayao%20Miyazaki"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The
Films of Hayao Miyazaki</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"> (that lasts for 2 and ½ years). This
year was the first time something I wrote, “</span><a href="http://thesociologistsdojo.blogspot.com/2018/12/zen-and-death-of-white-male-savior.html"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Zen
and the Death of the White Male Savior</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">.” got outside attention (From
</span><a href="https://www.thesocialbreakdown.com/"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The Social
Breakdown Podcast</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">). This year also saw the first of the
blog’s </span><a href="http://thesociologistsdojo.blogspot.com/2018/12/the-dojos-top-10-sociological-films-of.html"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“Top
Ten” lists</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">, and the first time I saw Panos Cosmatoes’ </span><a href="http://thesociologistsdojo.blogspot.com/2018/10/mandy-review.html"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Mandy</span></i></a><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"> </span></i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I have talked about <i>Mandy </i>a lot since
that initial review. I have done a </span><a href="https://directory.libsyn.com/episode/index/show/thesociologistsdojo/id/16602086"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Bonus
Commentary episode on the Podcast</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"> about it, and most
recently, I was a guest on </span><a href="https://whostherepodcast.com/podcast/ep-114-sociologist-dojo-creator-brian-brutlag-on-the-visual-feast-of-mandy-why-social-commentary-is-strongest-in-horror-collective-effervescence-in-society/"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“Who’s
There: A Horror Movie Fan Podcast</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"> talking about <i>Mandy</i>.
So, I think it a bit self-indulgent to put this review, yet again, front and
center. Instead, I am choosing Luca Guadagnino’s remake of “Suspiria” because
anything that terrifies the Patriarchy that much, I. Absolutely. Love. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><br /></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHb0b2RGULjjOU10_ofRv2rIB7KK8Mb2zh0D3IIhMJX2HedFjNtYg6BMAfJ9O_tXrKyMvwu7P9qL7-gkgQtPrP1X6p0jpeHfBZWt_4c9iFb4uRimR99s-D1usg_QDsIAfx6HSYFrm0pDYNW84wP42rVsh9pLIXCjHXpNe5waXOuh6SUHTrOL7ObAZQEA/s840/20130113-141718.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="630" data-original-width="840" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHb0b2RGULjjOU10_ofRv2rIB7KK8Mb2zh0D3IIhMJX2HedFjNtYg6BMAfJ9O_tXrKyMvwu7P9qL7-gkgQtPrP1X6p0jpeHfBZWt_4c9iFb4uRimR99s-D1usg_QDsIAfx6HSYFrm0pDYNW84wP42rVsh9pLIXCjHXpNe5waXOuh6SUHTrOL7ObAZQEA/w400-h300/20130113-141718.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /> <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 22.0pt; line-height: 107%;">2019: <a href="http://thesociologistsdojo.blogspot.com/2019/12/the-films-of-hayao-miyazaki-nausicaa-of.html">TFHM:
Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind</a><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>This
year saw <a href="http://thesociologistsdojo.blogspot.com/2019/07/the-films-of-hayao-miyazaki-lupin-third.html">the
continuation</a> of analyzing Miyazaki films, and a look into the sociological
relevance of the villain motivation in <i><a href="http://thesociologistsdojo.blogspot.com/2019/07/the-legend-of-korra-antagonists-anomie.html">The
Legend of Korra </a></i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Few essays were
published during the calendar year 2019. I was experiencing the lead up to, and
onset of, a personal crisis that lingered for years afterwards. I had to find
out who I was again and what I wanted. Turns out, I wanted to analyze film and
Popular culture by using the Sociological Perspective. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><br /></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjE6A1FtAUVLWQYsZnSj_Xe8ZHMPYK81E-vG45YFvgTm2ZiaJyyqnDJKybLYr0Crf9qM2Tp4J3gAGMtxguoBpRH5Qvrdo17CGlaM1RJLouFOUxha4XAseGkBSIDA8KylWkJyNJnPlbigLshty2DgEh8lnnKSMw9hCPKNEBt86nq0UzI8jqsUBrO4_VuHg/s630/11095081_0.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="630" data-original-width="630" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjE6A1FtAUVLWQYsZnSj_Xe8ZHMPYK81E-vG45YFvgTm2ZiaJyyqnDJKybLYr0Crf9qM2Tp4J3gAGMtxguoBpRH5Qvrdo17CGlaM1RJLouFOUxha4XAseGkBSIDA8KylWkJyNJnPlbigLshty2DgEh8lnnKSMw9hCPKNEBt86nq0UzI8jqsUBrO4_VuHg/w400-h400/11095081_0.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><br /></span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 22.0pt; line-height: 107%;">2020: <a href="http://thesociologistsdojo.blogspot.com/2020/06/black-lives-matter-batman-and-police.html">BLM,
Batman and Police Militarization</a> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>With
my personal crisis in full swing, the COVID-19 pandemic hit, and I like most
people, was under lockdown beginning in March of that year. I ended up not
going back to my office and teaching in person for almost 2 years. However,
with that time, I decided to recommit myself to the blog, promising myself to
provide one essay a month, or at least 12 essays a year. This is a commitment I
still hold to three years later. To that end, this year saw essays on a
Comparison between <a href="http://thesociologistsdojo.blogspot.com/2020/02/the-high-and-low-of-bong-joon-hos.html">Kurosawa’s
<i>High and Low</i> and Bong Joon Ho’s <i>Parasite</i></a><i>, </i>as well as the
bulk of Miyazaki essays on <i><a href="http://thesociologistsdojo.blogspot.com/2020/03/the-films-of-hayao-miyazaki-castle-in.html">Castle
in the Sky</a></i>, <i><a href="http://thesociologistsdojo.blogspot.com/2020/04/the-films-of-hayao-miyazaki-my-neighbor.html">Totoro</a></i>,
<i><a href="http://thesociologistsdojo.blogspot.com/2020/08/the-films-of-hayao-miyazaki-kikis.html">Kiki’s</a></i>,
<i><a href="http://thesociologistsdojo.blogspot.com/2020/08/the-films-of-hayao-miyazaki-porco-rosso.html">Porco
Rosso</a></i>, <i><a href="http://thesociologistsdojo.blogspot.com/2020/10/the-films-of-hayao-miyazaki-princess.html">Princess
Mononoke</a></i>, and <i><a href="http://thesociologistsdojo.blogspot.com/2020/11/the-films-of-hayao-miyazaki-spirited.html">Spirited
Away</a></i>. I also wrote a “scathing” critique of the comic book film genre
in defense of M. Night Shyamalan’s <a href="http://thesociologistsdojo.blogspot.com/2020/09/comics-cultural-collateral-damage.html">“Eastrail
177 Trilogy</a>” as well as reviews of <i><a href="http://thesociologistsdojo.blogspot.com/2020/02/feminist-fox-force-five-birds-of-prey.html">Birds
of Prey</a> </i>and <i><a href="http://thesociologistsdojo.blogspot.com/2020/05/the-sociology-of-akira.html">Akira</a></i>.
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">In October of 2020, I
started <a href="https://directory.libsyn.com/shows/view/id/thesociologistsdojo">The
Sociologist’s Dojo Podcast</a>, with an equal commitment to one episode a month.
As of this writing, I have published 31 episodes, 4 episodes recorded yet to be
published and 3 episodes planned but still to be recorded. I have had the fortune
to have great guests, many of them turning into friendships. Those that want to
be on the Podcast contact me on<a href="https://twitter.com/ThesociologistS">
Twitter<i> </i></a>or email me at <a href="mailto:thesociologistsdojo@gmail.com">thesociologistsdojo@gmail.com</a>.
Yet, given the context of the hellscape that was 2020, the essay I chose to
highlight above reflects a part of that disruption. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center; text-indent: 0.5in;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5LV37Mp1V9RAKkRE0EIEqBY_pe2qoGY7nIGwcGMzVxRNHDPT_LVjhAnFv68mljcdd5NnpOOUyoe9GRP6JlY7PHdKnYhxB2phYT8xQ88FfTw88zkV6dRrWnF8CKrMuATRuVX5TOXz-ajVx0iooKix-rxiZtGZ8nlLjtPCICfxSP9qOQc9ONuiRB8oH2A/s1710/c33454f25081d30f6450081812864995.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1710" height="210" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5LV37Mp1V9RAKkRE0EIEqBY_pe2qoGY7nIGwcGMzVxRNHDPT_LVjhAnFv68mljcdd5NnpOOUyoe9GRP6JlY7PHdKnYhxB2phYT8xQ88FfTw88zkV6dRrWnF8CKrMuATRuVX5TOXz-ajVx0iooKix-rxiZtGZ8nlLjtPCICfxSP9qOQc9ONuiRB8oH2A/w400-h210/c33454f25081d30f6450081812864995.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 22.0pt; line-height: 107%;">2021: <a href="http://thesociologistsdojo.blogspot.com/2021/09/vaders-flesh-is-sacred-disability.html">Vader’s
Flesh is Sacred: Disability Personhood and Victimhood Through 80's
Representations of Robots and Cyborgs</a><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The beginning
of 2021 was a scramble to write something <a href="http://thesociologistsdojo.blogspot.com/2021/01/sociology-alert-filmmaking-and.html">relevant
to the Jan 6<sup>th</sup> Insurrection</a>. After which, I finished up the
Miyazaki series with <i><a href="http://thesociologistsdojo.blogspot.com/2021/03/the-films-of-hayao-miyazaki-howls.html">Howl’s
Moving Castle</a></i>, <i><a href="http://thesociologistsdojo.blogspot.com/2021/04/the-films-of-hayao-miyazaki-ponyo.html">Ponyo</a></i>
and <i><a href="http://thesociologistsdojo.blogspot.com/2021/05/the-films-of-hayao-miyazaki-wind-rises.html">The
Wind Rises</a></i>, Continuation of The films of Christopher Nolan with<i><a href="http://thesociologistsdojo.blogspot.com/2021/02/the-films-of-christopher-nolan-tenet.html">
Tenet</a></i>, and the start of “<a href="http://thesociologistsdojo.blogspot.com/2021/06/the-chambara-films-of-akira-kurosawa.html">The
Chambara Films of Akira Kurosawa</a>”. This year I began to dip my toe in the academic
publishing waters with a review of the documentary <i><a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0092055X20983319">Crip Camp</a>
</i>for the American Sociological Journal <i>Teaching Sociology</i>. I also
wrote an article that was featured at the North East MLA conference on <i><a href="http://thesociologistsdojo.blogspot.com/2021/10/not-just-villain-disability-and.html">Disability
and Capitalism among Horror Antagonists</a>, </i>and a essay on the <a href="http://thesociologistsdojo.blogspot.com/2021/11/the-sociology-of-nicolas-cage.html">brilliance
of Nicolas Cage</a> which I used as the basis for Episode 20 of the Podcast
aptly titled <a href="https://directory.libsyn.com/episode/index/show/thesociologistsdojo/id/23519783">“The
Nic Cage Episode.”</a>. The essay I chose to feature was inspired out of
discussions with friend of the podcast <a href="https://www.lizwfaber.com/">Dr.
Liz W. Faber</a>, as they developed their ideas for their new book <i><a href="https://rowman.com/ISBN/9781666910483/Robot-Suicide-Death-Identity-and-AI-in-Science-Fiction">Robot
Suicide: Death, Identity and AI. in Science Fiction</a>. </i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><br /></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaSOWocr-1sHbzWdQBy6bJAYSE7410fpIitcnJZ0n0RbjVoZJf7tEnmxbGYCLhyK_jjD2eVFlYyRSrDlvAvRljeAqcyy_9hJrvdAgfxZDwL7UjA46Y1TM-Va2DIwqKRGbsGkyqVAdhJFNhMprH_I16t5mQ4peT3J7BBIXn9qaSzeWOYhIdeGO5z-9Uig/s700/01.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="250" data-original-width="700" height="143" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaSOWocr-1sHbzWdQBy6bJAYSE7410fpIitcnJZ0n0RbjVoZJf7tEnmxbGYCLhyK_jjD2eVFlYyRSrDlvAvRljeAqcyy_9hJrvdAgfxZDwL7UjA46Y1TM-Va2DIwqKRGbsGkyqVAdhJFNhMprH_I16t5mQ4peT3J7BBIXn9qaSzeWOYhIdeGO5z-9Uig/w400-h143/01.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxqYao8YjqcV8MiaOmm9AVxEBUqW2WPewLxhRBWv9jBqbkaNOfxAT43paEVOPPf3PsmsBdkj1bAbDfWvPTs0mvSv2Y7053qyx7-lJpWr9DV9Nd648GUTPDth26Uh3dgvce2LjSi2Y7ZfhL-Fqdo-LgYBHnTJrfm9E086ko2XDfKz7jSCTYgWZNKrfiTA/s1024/B9lSVCGIAAM7LCK.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="577" data-original-width="1024" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxqYao8YjqcV8MiaOmm9AVxEBUqW2WPewLxhRBWv9jBqbkaNOfxAT43paEVOPPf3PsmsBdkj1bAbDfWvPTs0mvSv2Y7053qyx7-lJpWr9DV9Nd648GUTPDth26Uh3dgvce2LjSi2Y7ZfhL-Fqdo-LgYBHnTJrfm9E086ko2XDfKz7jSCTYgWZNKrfiTA/w400-h225/B9lSVCGIAAM7LCK.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><br /></span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 22.0pt; line-height: 107%;">2022: A Gender Analysis Gemini: <a href="http://thesociologistsdojo.blogspot.com/2022/07/when-gender-socializationmet-romantic.html">When
Gender Socialization met the RomCom…</a> / <a href="http://thesociologistsdojo.blogspot.com/2022/08/police-punisher-and-performative.html">Police,
‘The Punisher’ and Performative Masculinity</a> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The boon of recognition continued
in 2022 as an <a href="http://thesociologistsdojo.blogspot.com/2022/01/the-sociology-of-matrix-nostalgia.html">essay
I wrote in January of that year</a> was reworked and published in the anthology
<i><a href="https://rowman.com/ISBN/9781666907414/Global-Perspectives-on-the-Liminality-of-the-Supernatural-From-Animus-to-Zombi">Global
Perspectives on the Liminality of the Supernatural From Animus to Zombi</a></i>
edited by the fantastic <a href="https://www.amazon.com/stores/Rebecca-Gibson/author/B08CCFS7GY">Dr.
Rebecca Gibson</a>, friend and frequent collaborator on the podcast. This year
saw the finishing and bulk of The Chambara films of Akira Kurosawa <i>( <a href="http://thesociologistsdojo.blogspot.com/2022/02/the-chambara-films-of-akira-kurosawa.html">Throne
of Blood</a>, <a href="http://thesociologistsdojo.blogspot.com/2022/03/the-chambara-films-of-akira-kurosawa.html">Hidden
Fortress</a>, <a href="http://thesociologistsdojo.blogspot.com/2022/04/the-chambara-films-of-akira-kurosawa.html">Yojimbo/Sanjuro</a>,
K<a href="http://thesociologistsdojo.blogspot.com/2022/05/the-chambara-films-of-akira-kurosawa.html">agemusha</a></i>
and <i><a href="http://thesociologistsdojo.blogspot.com/2022/06/the-chambara-films-of-akira-kurosawa-ran.html">Ran</a></i>)
and the Start of the Films of Karyn Kusama (with <i><a href="http://thesociologistsdojo.blogspot.com/2022/10/the-films-of-karyn-kusama-girlfight.html">Girlfight</a></i>
and <a href="http://thesociologistsdojo.blogspot.com/2022/11/the-films-of-karyn-kusama-aeon-flux.html">Aeon
Flux</a>). The two essays that I chose to highlight were essays that were a
long time coming, some brewing for years (The romcom essay) others needing a
catalyst (Uvalde school shooting) to provide enough motivation to write the
essay. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><br /></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_sJzxC-3_GbY683CTvL5VM03E1HHbdzBTEGQRlQpFNLfixSynpMrQelN_u1y2S0lhzQ8Zzz3VQAR3h-MF_6rKtA_wWvSmU70fhbnVzCBSXd1hsFW3sj6_53l4GQtUt-V1wMORdvi5RQGX-b6pjkupvFRW7eH9es22KXH-8Gotnibd6BzrCb0Qr9bSKw/s1000/11095081_0.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1000" data-original-width="750" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_sJzxC-3_GbY683CTvL5VM03E1HHbdzBTEGQRlQpFNLfixSynpMrQelN_u1y2S0lhzQ8Zzz3VQAR3h-MF_6rKtA_wWvSmU70fhbnVzCBSXd1hsFW3sj6_53l4GQtUt-V1wMORdvi5RQGX-b6pjkupvFRW7eH9es22KXH-8Gotnibd6BzrCb0Qr9bSKw/w300-h400/11095081_0.jpg" width="300" /></a><br /><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><br /></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 22.0pt; line-height: 107%;">2023: Best so far: <a href="http://thesociologistsdojo.blogspot.com/2023/03/death-taxes-and-bureaucracy-weberian.html">Death,
Taxes, and Bureaucracy a Weberian Analysis of Kurosawa’s <i>Ikiru</i> </a><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">2023 has been consumed by
the completion of The Films of Karyn Kusama (<i><a href="http://thesociologistsdojo.blogspot.com/2023/01/the-films-of-karyn-kusama-jennifers-body.html">Jennifer’s
Body</a></i>, <i><a href="http://thesociologistsdojo.blogspot.com/2023/02/the-films-of-karyn-kusama-invitation.html">The
Invitation</a></i>, <a href="http://thesociologistsdojo.blogspot.com/2023/04/the-films-of-karyn-kusama-destroyer.html">Destroyer</a>
and a bonus essay on <a href="http://thesociologistsdojo.blogspot.com/2023/05/the-films-of-karyn-kusama-yellowjackets.html">Season
1 of “YellowJackets</a>”). The remainder of this year will see an essay analyzing
<i>Thema and Louise </i>to commemorate <a href="https://www.criterion.com/films/29164-thelma-louise">the recent 4k Criterion
release,</a> and the start of “The Films of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ana_Lily_Amirpour">Ana Lilly Amirpour</a>”.
The essay I chose to highlight this year is my long gestating essay trying to talk
about the aspect of Weberian theory in Kurosawa’s <i>Ikiru</i>.<i> </i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"></span></b></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhn_Lz9a2xtmGkM4E2puD-_05A3DQ6T4VCt7lvY1bGMKQCw_izPVje3uK_ESWRh62UqenSOplHyw9YhnuVrcE5lp4KB816BAQ5CX894O5fieIf3_8Pwxc7r2sc9aIFBTlujgz1RsAz04DPz9WNafdk4fTAGt3FUmaSMyE6XWKt1KQcgKwox9XmHBvFK6w/s282/reiki-one-japanese-kanji-symbol-5.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="282" data-original-width="125" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhn_Lz9a2xtmGkM4E2puD-_05A3DQ6T4VCt7lvY1bGMKQCw_izPVje3uK_ESWRh62UqenSOplHyw9YhnuVrcE5lp4KB816BAQ5CX894O5fieIf3_8Pwxc7r2sc9aIFBTlujgz1RsAz04DPz9WNafdk4fTAGt3FUmaSMyE6XWKt1KQcgKwox9XmHBvFK6w/w177-h400/reiki-one-japanese-kanji-symbol-5.jpg" width="177" /></a></b></div><b><br /><o:p><br /></o:p></b><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">CONCLUSION <o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Part
of finding purpose in life is in the pursuit of marrying your work with your
passions. I have dedicated my life to the study of society, and I love to write
and discuss film and popular culture. I hope that my obsession and life’s
mission has brought both my readers and my listeners some perspective and entertainment
in equal measure. Late in my graduate study, a good friend of mine astutely professed
that to know me, to talk to me, is both parts wisdom and absurdity in equal
measure. I hope I have brought those qualities to my readers over these last
ten years. For those who have stuck with me over the decade, I hope you can say
that both the blog and my style have refined and gotten better. If not, thank
you for riding the wave of quality over the years. Looking forward, I have no
plans on ending this site or its mission. If life creeps and affects the frequency
of publication, please be patient. Lastly, if you have only read my written
work, please check out my Podcast. It is a lot of fun, and I talk to interesting
people about film, popular culture, and their work.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Here’s to another 10 years of Sociological
analysis of film and popular culture. Please join me, it will be an adventure. </span><span style="font-family: "Segoe UI Emoji",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-char-type: symbol-ext; mso-hansi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-symbol-font-family: "Segoe UI Emoji";">😊</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"> <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></b></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 22.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p><br /><p></p>Brian Brutlaghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08099644007940320266noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8714941782515128558.post-28040968634641013762023-05-14T18:38:00.004-07:002023-05-14T18:38:32.539-07:00The Films of Karyn Kusama: Yellowjackets <p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3aSF_5DJbNa7aJWXS8eveHzcvzmkGqA-S4nLfx6svt827HFAIzfP772qKgc0jGoRXyl6HrRwTvVsOT6NaRDHdys2QHcdeqsQPdEMVECHltuS1jDwt-FjVNAgGNJFxCJW0pgfppN0UFXrwiTjxOjQUg-WTD5ETxfcQIlerJYGhBDa-xZvM0D95IKQoZg/s1500/7_sammy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1500" data-original-width="1000" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3aSF_5DJbNa7aJWXS8eveHzcvzmkGqA-S4nLfx6svt827HFAIzfP772qKgc0jGoRXyl6HrRwTvVsOT6NaRDHdys2QHcdeqsQPdEMVECHltuS1jDwt-FjVNAgGNJFxCJW0pgfppN0UFXrwiTjxOjQUg-WTD5ETxfcQIlerJYGhBDa-xZvM0D95IKQoZg/w266-h400/7_sammy.jpg" width="266" /></a></div><p style="text-align: center;"><br /></p><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">This final essay in my
series on the films of Karyn Kusama will be looking at the director’s ‘small
screen’ work; focusing on the gendering and sexist misogyny of being a non-male
director in Hollywood using the lens of their recently produced and directed
critical darling, <i>Yellowjackets. </i>Through this focus, this paper will
address the historical consequences of identifying as a female director, many
of them languishing in either director jail, regulated to television or both;
and in the analysis of the narrative of <i>Yellowjackets</i>, tackle the
subversion of and disintegration of societal and gender norms for the sake of
survival, ritualism, tribalism, and Durkheimian Totemism.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/7OtaWnq6G5s" width="320" youtube-src-id="7OtaWnq6G5s"></iframe></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">PLOT<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span></span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">In
1996, high school female soccer champions traveling to a National Competition
get stranded in the Canadian wilderness after a plane crash. For 19 months, friendship,
honor, loyalty, and morals are tested among the group as they await rescue. Bonds
are broken, pacts and promises thwarted, as a cult and tribalism start to rise.
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In present day, some of the remaining
survivors, now middle-aged adults, begin to be blackmailed by an unknown source.
After so much time, the “Yellowjackets” must ban together once again to stop
this new threat, lest the secrets (and bodies) they buried out there in the
wilderness come back to haunt them.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEil2ui_pOgho0H9LffAfQxxxLo-tBEgF0E0lkXBJqmdUO6uTsIROpZC1tNenPCF7ICry8wSkc55QnsEKg2-9LRDiVc0gXnW_hQQijZIktr9t2lN82Q9DVFOG8P8CmUTcHDAp0AmmugTdRv_1O72na3Ziawn6umbGNfidonN7XWGm-1lNL2keREuyv1DFg/s1318/hinumg7e8udw9fzomqs0.webp" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1318" data-original-width="886" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEil2ui_pOgho0H9LffAfQxxxLo-tBEgF0E0lkXBJqmdUO6uTsIROpZC1tNenPCF7ICry8wSkc55QnsEKg2-9LRDiVc0gXnW_hQQijZIktr9t2lN82Q9DVFOG8P8CmUTcHDAp0AmmugTdRv_1O72na3Ziawn6umbGNfidonN7XWGm-1lNL2keREuyv1DFg/w269-h400/hinumg7e8udw9fzomqs0.webp" width="269" /></a></div><br /><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">HISTORICAL CONTEXT<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span></span></b><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The
Hollywood incarceration of Female Directors <o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span></span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The
trajectory of Karyn Kusama’s career can be used to track the parabolic arc of
sexism through the industry.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She “paid
her dues<b>” </b>[read as “for being a woman”] through the independent movie
scene and was praised for her first feature </span><a href="http://thesociologistsdojo.blogspot.com/2022/10/the-films-of-karyn-kusama-girlfight.html"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Girlfight</span></i></a><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"> </span></i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">because
at the time (early 2000’s), it was novel, and the then flavor of Hollywood
“girl power” feminism, to take a typical near cliché story about a man, in this
case a boxing film, and make it innovative by putting a woman at the
center.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Like the characters of Ripley in
<i>Aliens</i>, or Sara Connor, in <i>Terminator 2</i>, Diana (Gina Rodriguez) was
characterized as masculine with the aesthetic trappings of femininity, rather
than be a full three-dimensional human being.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>This was not threatening to the Hollywood structure because it forced
women (both behind and in front of the camera) to still tell stories about men
and masculinity.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The success and support
of <i>Girlfight</i>, especially by director John Sales, catapulted Kusama into being
a premiere young director. From there, she took on </span><a href="http://thesociologistsdojo.blogspot.com/2022/11/the-films-of-karyn-kusama-aeon-flux.html"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Aeon
Flux,</span></i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">but too much studio
interference, and a lack of producers understanding of the source material, lead
it to box office failure. However, the blame was not laid at the feet of the
producers. Instead, Kusama took the brunt of the criticism for the film and the
industry, once again, came to the erroneous conclusion that “Maybe” [ Read as
“Definitely] women should not be at the helm of big budget tent pole
blockbuster films anymore. This put Kusama in “director jail”.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">As noted in my <i>Aeon Flux</i> review “Director Jail”:
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>…is a state of limbo filmmakers get put into
after a notable or typically horrendous film is poorly received by both
audiences and critics. Incarcerated directors are given few offers to direct
projects, and any personal or independent projects they have will not gain
traction.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Unfortunately, but to no one’s
surprise, female directors often are given longer sentences than male
directors. Since the patriarchy tends to see women in occupations to be niche,
and therefore both being too specific and too general at the same time, the
industry is unwilling to “take a chance” on another “female director.”
Meanwhile, if male directors get sent to “jail” they often do not stay long,
constantly giving many of them another shot. However, there has been an
increasing trend of male directors being allowed to fail upwards. In these
situations, male directors don’t go to jail, they’re given the industry
equivalent of diplomatic immunity.<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">One method of Incarceration for directors at that time
was to be regulated to directing episodic television. At this point, as film
reigned supreme as the content of prestige and status, television directors had
less clout, responsibilities, and overall influence on the projects they
oversaw. They were a glorified camera operator that often had to defer to the cinematographer
and producers to maintain continuity. They were often pejoratively referred to
as “directors -for-hire.” It was designed as penance, and unfortunately for
many female directors, became a life sentence. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Thus, it was after the box office flop of <i>Aeon
Flux,</i> that Kusama started directing TV. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2oDGGTluj2UAGJV54G9dIWKqJhZ-kQ9h91mRkxalqAoE2a8XjExkkOx_5x7MTaE07KCSj12nem8oSCiI_WdgQ06oaLDjivS94r0Xl9asFJKuETSACKl0c8_VQBc82-EoMFMeOD9vXzM1uL_4t7dMzIW8q0ti5uZbRcGz6V6bx56U7n38UkkZ12URn4w/s990/love2_0.webp" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="564" data-original-width="990" height="228" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2oDGGTluj2UAGJV54G9dIWKqJhZ-kQ9h91mRkxalqAoE2a8XjExkkOx_5x7MTaE07KCSj12nem8oSCiI_WdgQ06oaLDjivS94r0Xl9asFJKuETSACKl0c8_VQBc82-EoMFMeOD9vXzM1uL_4t7dMzIW8q0ti5uZbRcGz6V6bx56U7n38UkkZ12URn4w/w400-h228/love2_0.webp" width="400" /></a></div><br /><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><i>Riding
the tide back into a Still Rocky Shore <o:p></o:p></i></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>As
Kusama began to “do her time” by direct episodic television of <i>The L word,</i>
<i>Halt and Catch Fire, Chicago Fire, The Man in the High Castle</i> the television
landscape began to change.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Beginning in
the early 2000’s, with the popularity of such shows as <i>Mad Men, </i>and<i>
The Sopranos,</i> ushered in a shift in status and value from long form to
short form content. We were moving away from “Features” (Films) and entered
into </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_Age_of_Television_%282000s%E2%80%93present%29"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“
The Golden Age of Television”.<i> </i></span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This
new age was manifested through the development and accessibility of home
theater technology. Through the distribution of high quality, high frame rate televisions
(HDTV’s with 1080+ 4 k resolution) for home use, television production had to increase
their quality<a href="https://d.docs.live.net/bb5a620476910e43/Documents/Sociologists%20Dojo/Yellowjackets%20Review%20.docx#_ftn1" name="_ftnref1" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn1;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[1]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>.
The increase in the quality of the production, and the lure of an expanding
narrative<a href="https://d.docs.live.net/bb5a620476910e43/Documents/Sociologists%20Dojo/Yellowjackets%20Review%20.docx#_ftn2" name="_ftnref2" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn2;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[2]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a> began to attract creative
talent to television that would have sworn it off just a few years prior.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>By the time Kusama was exclusively doing Tv
gigs, after once again being thrown back into “Director Jail” between her
modest features </span><a href="http://thesociologistsdojo.blogspot.com/2023/01/the-films-of-karyn-kusama-jennifers-body.html"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Jennifer’s
Body</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">
and</span><a href="http://thesociologistsdojo.blogspot.com/2023/04/the-films-of-karyn-kusama-destroyer.html"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">
Destroyer</span></a><span class="MsoHyperlink"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">, she was</span></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"> directing
a total of 18 episodes of a variety of well-known shows including <i>Casual,
Masters of Sex, </i>and <i>The Outsider</i>. Suddenly, the prison didn’t seem
so much like a punishment anymore.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Kusama
was on the cutting edge of the next transformation of entertainment
distribution with the development and release of her 2015 feature: </span><a href="http://thesociologistsdojo.blogspot.com/2023/02/the-films-of-karyn-kusama-invitation.html"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The
Invitation</span></i></a><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">. </span></i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Because Kusama wanted to
retain final cut for her films, she became a pariah to most producers in
Hollywood. It wasn’t until she was approached by then film rental company <i>Netflix,
</i>who was branching out into creating and producing content to put on their
own platform, that she was able to work out a deal where Kusama would be able
to retain final cut of the film, as long as distribution of the film (aside
from independent film festivals to create buzz) would be exclusive to Netflix. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">With more and more of Millennials
cutting the cord from cable in the early 2000s, coupled with the increase in
high-speed bandwidth internet, Netflix became an early streaming juggernaut
because they were able to license content from other prestige producers at the
time (like Showtime, HBO, Warner bros, and Paramount) who did not, as of yet,
have a platform.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>However, much like <i>Movie
Pass</i> was the test case for </span><a href="https://www.indiewire.com/feature/movie-subscription-plans-ranked-1202214347/"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Theater
chain subscription services</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">, Netflix was the experiment that
would lead to our current </span><a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2023/05/10/streaming-wars-are-over-whats-next.html"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“Streaming
War”</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">
where every producer and owner of intellectual property (IP) attempts to have
their own service; thereby pulling, or more likely, letting contracts on
licensed content expire for other older services like Netflix and Hulu.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This became a boon for monopolistic media
conglomerates like Disney who’ve not only acquired the <i>Marvel </i>and <i>Star
Wars</i> content to increase their hold on young boys attention, but </span><a href="http://thesociologistsdojo.blogspot.com/2018/01/a-closing-door-of-choices-sociological.html"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">recently
took control of all of the 20<sup>th</sup> century Fox creative IP</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">
including all of MGM’s catalog of content.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">These mergers and
acquisitions are a key factor in the current </span><a href="https://thesociologistsdojo.libsyn.com/episode-11-streaming-culture-with-dr-david-arditi"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“Streaming
War” because of Streaming’s unsustainable business model.</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">
Profit for these streaming services <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>is
not based on the number of viewers of each piece of content, or even the number
of viewers on the service per month, <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>but
in how many <b>new subscribers sign up each month</b>. This has a built-in
saturation point. Even if you</span><a href="https://mashable.com/article/netflix-password-sharing-crackdown-how-to-circumvent"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"> cut
down on password sharing <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">and
other fraudulent behaviors, there is only so many people, and at some point
everyone (or most of them) will already be subscribers (Arditi 2021).<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">For the consumer, with
each new production company launching their new premium service with exclusive
access to their own IP, the cost of these services (each one often hovering
around $10-15.99</span><a href="https://thesociologistsdojo.libsyn.com/episode-5-the-hbomax-warner-bros-deal-and-the-state-of-cinema"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">)
a subscription to three or more streamers is more expensive than cable</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">.
Inevitably now, consumers often make the choice to stick with a </span><a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/streaming-services-deal-with-growing-number-of-subscribers-who-watch-cancel-and-go-11660557601"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Streamer
until they get through the content that they want and then cancel their
subscription</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"> and get another one in order to keep
costs low. They will dip in for <i>The Mandalorian, </i>or <i>Stranger Things</i>
but once they are done, they are out, again.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>This has lead to content providers now breaking up seasons, or going </span><a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/newsletters/2022-08-14/streaming-is-starting-to-look-a-lot-like-cable-tv"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">back
to the weekly model like broadcast television</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"> in hopes of
keeping their viewership numbers up. This has lead to many companies not only
losing money (</span><a href="https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/business/story/2022-11-08/disney-earnings-fourth-quarter-streaming-loses-1-5-billion-hulu-espn-chapek"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Disney
Plus is at an operating loss of 1.5 billion dollars</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">)
but to enter into a scramble for new content (Arditi 2021).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This has become a financial windfall for
companies like Sony and Showtime who have opted out of the Streaming wars and
instead just be the arms dealers of premium content. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One of those pieces of content is the Karyn
Kusama Produced <i>Yellowjackets. <o:p></o:p></i></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><i><br /></i></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/P-Wl2mJORoA" width="320" youtube-src-id="P-Wl2mJORoA"></iframe></div><br /><i><br /></i><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Production <o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Yellowjackets </span></i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">was
first conceived by Ashley Lyne and Bart Nikerson as an amalgam of The Donner
Party, the Andres Flight Disaster and an adaptation of Lord of the Flies
featuring a majority female cast. While many were skeptical that girls would
resort to the same level of barbarism that is depicted in Golding’s classic
story, Lyne and Nikerson new that given the social hierarchy of teenage girls,
and the female relational aggression that exists between them, that the
barbarism is not only possible, but inevitable (Simmons 2002). <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Lyle and Nikerson serve as showrunners on the
series along with Jonathan Lisco who brought in Kusama as an executive producer.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Kusama got the pilot script three years before
it went in front of a camera. She was initially intrigued by the shows premise,
believing that:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“ putting women in these
types of stories is still undiscovered territory…we romanticize the notion that
if women were just left to fend for themselves [it would be a utopia]. But what
would that really look like?...It would just be as thorny and as problematic as
any clan fighting for survival” (Ford 2022). <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">To get to that place, Kusama took inspiration from Elem
Klimov’s <i>Come and See,</i> a 1980’s Russian war film about a boy who glorifies
the war against the Nazi’s until he gets directly affected by it. Through this
lens, Kusama saw the story of the Yellowjackets soccer team as a war story
(Ford 2022). “I saw these women [like soldiers] coming home from war…and how
their experiences followed them and shaped their lives.” To that end, Kusama
decided to link the two timelines together, not through typical action
callbacks where the behavior a character does in the future, is a call back to
the past, and vice versa. Instead, the links between the timelines are more
psychological and thematic, illustrating the changes in the characters from
their younger counterparts; allowing the audience to ask the questions about
the characters rather than the basic plot of the story. For example, the
audience will question how does the character of Natalie played in the 1996
timeline by Sophie Thatcher as a troubled grunge obsessed goth, but straight
edged burnout, transform into the Natalie of the present, a gun toting drug
fueled one-woman badass wrecking crew of revenge? The Natalie of the present
holds all the clues to the journey we will watch her younger counterpart
experience in the past through each subsequent season of the show.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Since Kusama got in on
the production early, and got the opportunity to direct the pilot, she was
allowed to imprint her visual aesthetic into the overall style of the show
moving forward, making sure all future episodes would have a “Karyn Kusama flavor”
in each shot.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Kusama plans to return to
directing future episodes of the series (now renewed for a third season out of
a planned series arc of 5) including the season finale of season two, which, as
of this writing, is said to be a “doosey” (Ford 2022). <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpUWhHwzwNUfWzLrIJ4ECRSnxAggAcL3dHxTtQJC5S05qnEFaGd281zjhAGop88GkM2y13QHLzbyVTF08CSd2Uii8Jd5y3_iejVXiljp-rp869YONUydZk1R7MZRbkvzPEBOCttXF8X0EUwJAmffIF3Es6IoA5q6TzM6aD8IVSFWni969E_12KD6RFRA/s3840/anderson-manufacturing-ar-open-stripped-lower-punisher-black-receiver-1620826-2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2160" data-original-width="3840" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpUWhHwzwNUfWzLrIJ4ECRSnxAggAcL3dHxTtQJC5S05qnEFaGd281zjhAGop88GkM2y13QHLzbyVTF08CSd2Uii8Jd5y3_iejVXiljp-rp869YONUydZk1R7MZRbkvzPEBOCttXF8X0EUwJAmffIF3Es6IoA5q6TzM6aD8IVSFWni969E_12KD6RFRA/w400-h225/anderson-manufacturing-ar-open-stripped-lower-punisher-black-receiver-1620826-2.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /> <p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">SOCIAL ANALYSIS </span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Setting the Unequal Gender table of
Hollywood <b><o:p></o:p></b></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">In 2022, 31% of producers,
<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/kimelsesser/2023/01/04/percent-of-women-behind-the-scenes-of-top-films-declined-in-2022-according-to-new-study/?sh=541960ee58f4">24%
of the directors, 21 % of editors, 19% of writers <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>and only 7% of cinematographers</a> of the top
250 films were women. <a href="https://deadline.com/2023/03/female-roles-hollywood-2023-report-1235281081/">In
front of the camera, it is not much better:</a> 38% of major characters 33% of
Protagonists with many of the roles, going to younger female actors (14% of
roles featured female actors in their 40’s) and overrepresented in the horror
genre. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Only 11% had more female
characters than male characters and 9% had an equal number. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Because of this bleak
landscape, made more barren when you take an intersectional analysis and include
Race, Sexuality and Disability into the equation; when women creatives attempt
to get anything made that is not reinforcing at least one of the <a href="https://www.sheknows.com/entertainment/slideshow/810/female-stereotypes-in-film-that-make-us-yawn/13/">plethora
of sexist tropes</a> that permeate the medium, they run into a variety of roadblocks:
reluctance of producers, funding drying up, and being dropped from studio
consideration. The fact that <a href="https://gointothestory.blcklst.com/analysis-2021-black-list-acd9b9b31e1e">40%
of unproduced “black list” scripts were penned by women</a> in part because of
these roadblocks and the inability of major studios to believe in women is both
expected and disheartening <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The
sexism of the Hollywood industry can be measured by the assumptions and wrong lessons
that it takes from female creatively led projects.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Firstly, women have always been considered a
niche/specialty market. Granted, this is nothing new since white women are<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>still considered to be a member of a
marginalized group, and <a href="https://www.vox.com/2016/5/25/11682950/fisher-supreme-court-white-women-affirmative-action">remain
the biggest recipients of gains made by affirmative action policies</a>. Yet,
because female lead projects often tell stories about women, the industry
standard assumption is that those types of stories will not attract the coveted
18-40 male demographic. Even when streaming content has since changed the landscape
and narrowed the gap between, and the importance of, that once coveted group.
Still, the industry persists, continuing to see women and their stories as a
risk; and Hollywood is famously risk adverse even though women consume 71% of
all media content. And when something does manage to break through, the
industry, being short term profit driven, desperately wants to jump on the
bandwagon…without really understanding why unique stories about women are
important and necessary. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">One such cinematic
example where Hollywood took the wrong lessons is the Callie Khouri written,
Ridley Scott helmed <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i><a href="https://www.criterion.com/films/29164-thelma-louise">Thelma and Louise</a>.<a href="https://d.docs.live.net/bb5a620476910e43/Documents/Sociologists%20Dojo/Yellowjackets%20Review%20.docx#_ftn3" name="_ftnref3" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn3;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[3]</span></b></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
</i>After the initial blowback upon the film’s release calling the film “<a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2011/08/thelma-louise-the-last-great-film-about-women/244336/">degrading
to men</a>” the film found a resurgence among female audiences seeing
themselves in one of the two titular characters, and their decision to live their
life for them, right to the end, spoke to a whole market Hollywood did not
consider. But instead of focusing on the creative voices, choice and
perspectives of women, Hollywood, in true patriarchal form, just saw the aesthetics.
They saw attractive gun toting women go on a bank robbing road trip kicking ass
and blowing shit up. Thus, we get subjected to the <i>Charlie’s Angles</i> remake
franchise and numerous other films that reinforce a male crafted story with
masculine energy just featuring women.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center; text-indent: 0.5in;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFtsoKpUoJDQNlZFf7YZi-7rv41M7Vs7lkLkSDkg1oZ7OsHX93Id8DgZjx0MYO3Vq1FnmW_0MAJYGaD2PfPil-qq0vNR_j7jfhHtLTIN5QHrL6RBvA2VvE22kFvZWkF2wBKL0q5-dujh2K05XUtnEhTfZQYK1oFS7LZYNLC8hyQnw4yydlJcrv6t5tuA/s1600/fkBLa2W.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1288" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFtsoKpUoJDQNlZFf7YZi-7rv41M7Vs7lkLkSDkg1oZ7OsHX93Id8DgZjx0MYO3Vq1FnmW_0MAJYGaD2PfPil-qq0vNR_j7jfhHtLTIN5QHrL6RBvA2VvE22kFvZWkF2wBKL0q5-dujh2K05XUtnEhTfZQYK1oFS7LZYNLC8hyQnw4yydlJcrv6t5tuA/w323-h400/fkBLa2W.jpg" width="323" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Thirty years later, this
criticism is still apt when looking at a story of High School female soccer team
fighting for survival while stranded in the Canadian Wilderness, in <i>Yellowjackets</i>.
On the surface, this seems like another example of Hollywood taking the wrong lessons:
just taking a typical male story and gender swapping the male protagonists. If
this story was just an ill-advised cynical cash grab, like so many of its ilk,
that is what we would have gotten, something barren and lifeless. However,
under the care of Showrunners and creators Ashley Lyne, Bart Nikerson and Jonathan
Lisco, with Kusama at the helm, they tell a story of female aggression and survival,
the difficulty of shaking patriarchal norms, and religious devotion in extreme
situations. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-sl742sh1TbpZs7xRKbDvLUD3xSMeIrbVJaJIqNX-F1A4G4NpSGXQk9l95jpLkWykV8pn8ZJDqCDAe2DfwiTDZD6vV5Y7NK5pbHP9QDUzJfJeCKp00o6B_dQ7XiQw9wNtyUlqDElDjZVMIpXiiTxrwCr3LCWBP7LURhdCwyZZI9kDGGL1tA9jzKy-6w/s1200/philadelphia_crime_07192021_1.webp" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="772" data-original-width="1200" height="258" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-sl742sh1TbpZs7xRKbDvLUD3xSMeIrbVJaJIqNX-F1A4G4NpSGXQk9l95jpLkWykV8pn8ZJDqCDAe2DfwiTDZD6vV5Y7NK5pbHP9QDUzJfJeCKp00o6B_dQ7XiQw9wNtyUlqDElDjZVMIpXiiTxrwCr3LCWBP7LURhdCwyZZI9kDGGL1tA9jzKy-6w/w400-h258/philadelphia_crime_07192021_1.webp" width="400" /></a></div><br /><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Yellowjackets and the embracing of Direct Aggression<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">In their landmark analysis
on female aggression, Rachel Simmons (2002) discusses the mechanisms of female aggression
bound by patriarchically misogynistic gender norms. Briefly, because the gender
messages that girls receive through the process of gender socialization impedes
their ability to express anger in direct and open ways lest they be sanctioned
as being somehow unfeminine; their expression of their anger is societally manufactured
to take an indirect approach (Simmons 2002). Since girls and women are judged through
their relationships, those relationships, especially with other girls, need to
remain strong and intact, at least on the surface. This is in order for girls
to maintain a moral air and good standing with adults in their orbit, otherwise
the girls’ innocence, moral goodness, and purity are put into question. Therefore,
the expression of direct form of aggression, often popularized by men and
gendered as masculine, is elusive for girls in a western social order. Just
think of how any angry emotional outburst is still minimized and gaslit by the assumption
of menstruation. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Instead, to avoid this
sanctioning, girls develop, and women perfect, indirect forms of aggression to express
their natural feelings of anger and frustration. This includes using
relationships as weapons through the practices of rumor spreading, silent treatments,
nonverbal gesturing, and sarcasm (Simmons 2002). This relational aggression takes
its form in the halls of middle and high schools, at parties and other social
events, thereby shaping the inner interrelated life of young girls.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It
is this world of indirect relational aggression that the characters of <i>Yellowjackets</i>
are familiar with when they find themselves stranded in the Canadian wilderness
at the end of the first episode.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Throughout
the first season, the leadership, support, and importance of each character shifts
as the old gendered social hierarchy collapses, replaced by one based on survival.
As the value of each person to the group changes, so does their gain and loss
of prestige and social power. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is exemplified through the two-character
arcs of Young Jackie (Ella Purnell) and Young Misty (Samantha Hanratty) in
season 1. “Back in the World” in the patriarchical organization of societal
gender norms and high school clicks, Jackie reins supreme. She is beautiful,
popular, accomplished and is well versed in the delicate social mechanisms of
the teenage girl hierarchy. In the beginning of the first episode, we watch as
she expertly deploys every indirect and relational aggression in her arsenal to
get what she wants. She has clout, and the attention of her peers. Misty, on
the other hand, is the weirdo outcast that doesn’t wear the right clothes, say
the right things, recognize social cues, and desperately wants to be accepted.
She actively cares too much about seeking attention and validation from others.
After the plane crash, with Misty’s knowledge of medicine and survival
strategies, she quickly garners favor with the remaining survivors. Whereas,
without the lattice work of the overarching bureaucratic social structure to
support her, Jackie, and her talents, become effectively useless.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">While the juxtaposition is
interesting at its core, the creators and Kusama make it more compelling by having
these power dynamics shift slowly. It is the slow burn of the transformation
from civilized to tribal that makes these character transitions so delicious. The
creators question the nature of the female perspective when it is not tied to
patriarchy. Those that seek to recreate it and have been propped up by the patriarchal
bargain that they struck (Jackie), illustrate just how malignant and pervasive these
toxic traits actually are. This is also again demonstrated when the survivors
see whom among them is the best with a rifle (to hunt food). Travis exhibits
some toxic masculine qualities as he assumes he will be the best shot. While he
is good, predominantly because, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2019/feb/23/truth-world-built-for-men-car-crashes">like
a lot of societal behaviors and products</a>, rifles and other firearms were
built with only men in mind, Natalie is the best. While the other girls support
Natalie’s supremacy in this task, she still feels compelled to save Travis’
fragile masculinity by at first downplaying her accomplishments, even after
Travis criticizes her. It is only when Natalie receives masculine validation
from Ben (their coach) that she begins to accept her newfound power and status.
Eventually, albeit under the influence of drugs and alcohol (Shrooms and berry fermented
Hooch), the girls fully able to shed off the Hegemonic Masculinity of their previous
lives and embrace the power of the lesbian existence<a href="https://d.docs.live.net/bb5a620476910e43/Documents/Sociologists%20Dojo/Yellowjackets%20Review%20.docx#_ftn4" name="_ftnref4" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn4;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[4]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a> through the schism of the survivors
into different factions based around matriarchical shamanism (Rich 1980). <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center; text-indent: 0.5in;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiU668-8k_5zFJS54EL2vRABtM8Lo3BKtgm6hVRVvdJOKGYJsRXviID78Z-rg5-UPGFl42Puiki3r6mJtgMcMfNR1uNmt3hNbEZIOOMMmn5t6cMgdjNP29rxinNWz4Njz0nmDDOdk1w50WNKuDkiFkCg4SkOCYiIBBXwF-jAiinqE_ozglmKLxbA_iTfg/s1000/Untitled-800x400.webp" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="1000" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiU668-8k_5zFJS54EL2vRABtM8Lo3BKtgm6hVRVvdJOKGYJsRXviID78Z-rg5-UPGFl42Puiki3r6mJtgMcMfNR1uNmt3hNbEZIOOMMmn5t6cMgdjNP29rxinNWz4Njz0nmDDOdk1w50WNKuDkiFkCg4SkOCYiIBBXwF-jAiinqE_ozglmKLxbA_iTfg/w400-h240/Untitled-800x400.webp" width="400" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Religion and Tribalism
among the Survivors <o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">According to Emile Durkheim
(2001), the power of religion is in the people’s ability to believe in it. This
is the social construction of religion. The content of the stories surrounding
religion, and the use of allegories and metaphors, matter less than the belief
that is placed on those stories. Effectively, it is not what you believe that
matters as much as <b>that </b>you believe. Belief is the point.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A product of this religious belief is “collective
effervescence”, the feeling of energy and harmony when people are all engaging
in the same behavior for a shared purpose (Durkheim 2001). <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Kusama and the creators
root the religious rituals in the ancient religion of Totemism, which uses
symbols as sacred objects to unify and embody a particular group (Durkheim 2001).
The symbol that becomes religiously important predates the crash but is reappropriated
by some factions of survivors to represent their worship of the wilderness, the
manufacturing of “The Antler Queen”, and justify their practice of murder and Cannibalism
which, in the first few minutes of Episode 1, seems fully ritualized and made
sacred by their actions.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>However, since
we are dropped into media res, and meet the girls as they are accustomed to their
stranded life in the wilderness, there are still many unanswered questions
about how the girls we leave at the end of season 1, become those we see at the
beginning of that first episode. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Another interesting religious
thread the creators weave into the first season in the interplay between mental
illness and religiosity. The character of Lottie Mathews is shown to have
schizophrenia, and in the first handful of episodes she is shown taking medication
to keep her condition stabilized. But as she first rations her pills, and later
runs out, her mental illness manifests as worshiping of the wilderness. Through
schizophrenic episodes, she is able to convince several other survivors to pledge
their fealty to her and the Wilderness at the end of season 1. Similarly, Taissa,
who exhibits characteristics of a as of yet diagnosed Dissociative disorder,
sees visions of an eyeless man that may be a manifestation of death.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In her dissociative state, Adult Taissa murdered
their family dog and ritualized it as an offering to an unknown entity. At the
end of season 1 we see that young Taissa begins to disassociate when she and some
of the survivors are attacked by a pack of wolves. While these depictions of
mental illness are a part of the three-dimensional layering of these complex
characters, it is yet to be seen if these interpretations will be ultimately
compassionate and sympathetically humanizing, or devolve into yet another tired
trope of mental illness being a short hand for villainy and the deplorably
evil.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/h7vphvB1JXA" width="320" youtube-src-id="h7vphvB1JXA"></iframe></div><br /><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">CONCLUSION <o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Kusama has always been
underrated as a director, especially her feature work. In the spirit of other female
filmmakers, like Elaine May, and Ana Lilly Amirpour she is uncompromising in
her vision, <a href="https://variety.com/2022/politics/news/karyn-kusama-abortion-rights-planned-parenthood-1235386853/">recently
directing her first political ad campaign to secure federal protections for
body rights for women</a> <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>and continues
to pay the female tax for directing, <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>However, with the success of <i>Yellowjackets,
</i>Karyn Kusama is starting to get the recognition that she richly deserves having
been nominated for an Emmy and Winning the HCA<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>award for outstanding achievement in directing for the <i>Yellowjacket </i>pilot.
Yet, even with her brilliance being recognized on the “small screen” in film
she seems to still get the shaft. Earlier this year it was revealed that her <a href="https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2022/04/what-killed-karyn-kusamas-dracula-film">Dracula
film surrounding the character of Mina Harker was scrapped because the studio
would not give Kusama final cut (again),</a> unlike the weakly rumored reason that
two competing Dracula themed projects (the other being <i>Renfield</i> staring <a href="http://thesociologistsdojo.blogspot.com/2021/11/the-sociology-of-nicolas-cage.html">Nic
Cage</a>) would lead to oversaturation. I will always long for this film, and I
mourn that it will never come to fruition. Therefore, if you have come to Kusama’s
work through the success of <i>Yellowjackets</i>, please check out her feature
work. I’d start with <i>Jennifer’s Body.</i> If you didn’t know <i>Yellowjackets
</i>was connected to Kusama, may you be as pleasantly surprised as I was, and
continue to follow her trajectory, hoping that recognition finally catches up
to her brilliance as is the hope for all non-cisgendered white male able bodied
creatives. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></i></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">REFERENCES <o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; text-indent: -.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Arditi,
David 2021. <i>Streaming Culture: Subscription Platforms and the Unending
Consumption of Culture </i>Washington: Emerald publishing <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i><o:p></o:p></i></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; text-indent: -.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Durkheim,
Emile 2001. <i>Thw Elementary Forms of Religious Life </i>Oxford: Oxford
University Press <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; text-indent: -.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Ford,
Rebecca 2022. “Karyn Kusama says <i>YellowJackets </i>is a ‘War Story’ about
Women.” In <i>Vanity Fair </i>Retrieved at <a href="https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2022/07/awards-insider-karyn-kusama-yellowjackets-interview%20Retrived%20on%205/12/2023">https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2022/07/awards-insider-karyn-kusama-yellowjackets-interview
Retrived on 5/12/2023</a><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; text-indent: -.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; text-indent: -.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Rich
Adrienne 1980. “Compulsory Heterosexuality and the Lesbian Existence.” In <i>Blood
Bread and Poetry: Selected Prose 1979-1985. </i>Retrieved at <a href="https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/493756">https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/493756</a><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Retrieved on 5/13/2023<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; text-indent: -.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; text-indent: -.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Simmons,
Rachel K 2002. <i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Odd Girl Out: The
Hidden Culture of Aggression in Girls </i>New York: Harcourt. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<div style="mso-element: footnote-list;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><br clear="all" />
<hr align="left" size="1" width="33%" />
<!--[endif]-->
<div id="ftn1" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<p class="MsoFootnoteText"><a href="https://d.docs.live.net/bb5a620476910e43/Documents/Sociologists%20Dojo/Yellowjackets%20Review%20.docx#_ftnref1" name="_ftn1" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn1;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[1]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a> <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;">Seriously, try and watch the 4:3
shot<i> Buffy the Vampire Slayer</i> or early episodes of <i>ER </i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>it’s a slog</span> <o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="ftn2" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<p class="MsoFootnoteText"><a href="https://d.docs.live.net/bb5a620476910e43/Documents/Sociologists%20Dojo/Yellowjackets%20Review%20.docx#_ftnref2" name="_ftn2" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn2;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[2]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a> <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;">Instead of a single contained story
that can be told and digested in a single sitting, now that could be extended
over multiple episodes.</span><o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="ftn3" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<p class="MsoFootnoteText"><a href="https://d.docs.live.net/bb5a620476910e43/Documents/Sociologists%20Dojo/Yellowjackets%20Review%20.docx#_ftnref3" name="_ftn3" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn3;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[3]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
Now getting a Criterion release on May 30<sup>th</sup> 2023<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="ftn4" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<p class="MsoFootnoteText"><a href="https://d.docs.live.net/bb5a620476910e43/Documents/Sociologists%20Dojo/Yellowjackets%20Review%20.docx#_ftnref4" name="_ftn4" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn4;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[4]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a> Even
though this is an important moment in the transformation of the protagonists, this
metamorphosis is unfortunately still not complete until there is an attempt at
rape and sexual assault when the girls victimize Travis. The assault maintaining
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>the flavors of hegemonic toxic
masculinity that the girls perform. <o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
</div><br /><p></p>Brian Brutlaghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08099644007940320266noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8714941782515128558.post-34177553755796673822023-04-10T16:03:00.000-07:002023-04-10T16:03:20.809-07:00The Films of Karyn Kusama: Destroyer <p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqwBQad8LIneMndbnPRNEjsm_oLQIo2WEW_eQ-zcmfXZ65H9mJ6C-4eCdYy0tjZYGJec3hJkqt-a7BL5iducgajItglvOt19NIT7ub1j9U4dFwGhv_7wVX5EDiPu2PnLr3-YfeQVA8uwbFI-VGSHZ5mie9s4ii2UPpC-3bRurdjjaLlID6MDv9bZUB1Q/s857/7_sammy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="857" data-original-width="600" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqwBQad8LIneMndbnPRNEjsm_oLQIo2WEW_eQ-zcmfXZ65H9mJ6C-4eCdYy0tjZYGJec3hJkqt-a7BL5iducgajItglvOt19NIT7ub1j9U4dFwGhv_7wVX5EDiPu2PnLr3-YfeQVA8uwbFI-VGSHZ5mie9s4ii2UPpC-3bRurdjjaLlID6MDv9bZUB1Q/w280-h400/7_sammy.jpg" width="280" /></a></div><br /><p style="text-align: center;"><br /></p><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The fifth film in my
continued analysis of the films of Karyn Kusama is the neo-noir crime thriller <i>Destroyer</i>.
Coming off the critical success of <i>The Invitation</i>, Kusama changed
directions again to tackle another film category. <i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></i>This, like other films in Kusama’s
filmography, is both a genre picture and plays with genre: confirming and
subverting tropes, themes, and audience expectations. This paper is an
examination of the crime thriller through the lens of 2018’s <i>Destroyer </i>and
the implications that these films have on the perceptions of the police by the
public, and the expectations that police officers have when cinema is used as a
soft power recruitment tool. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Ko3cwWEYpkw" width="320" youtube-src-id="Ko3cwWEYpkw"></iframe></div><br /><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">PLOT <o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">When Det. Erin Bell
(Kidman) gets called in to an unnamed gunshot victim, this sends her on an
intersecting path with a Bank Robber (Toby Kebbell) that she attempted to
expose by going undercover in his organization 16 years prior. As she gets
violently reacquainted with the rest of her former “crew”, truths are revealed
and Bell begins to unravel, all the frayed edges of her life: work, family and romance
disintegrate in her hands. As she closes in on her quarry, Bell realizes that he
is not the malevolence that she’s been seeking to exorcise, but her, who has become
the architect of her own destruction.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhERybMM2ZTex-_8EPe3pFzMBQ7fvcB8SVHLpHgcfMl4uIc_fwTR6NrgUTSOtR5e2mR9jVBE-wiS1R4qh561SUHlKf_URPHFvUxhmQsfHTEYlbxsSBzZsxJ7_mkx0mK9jMpAN2fYPg5i6I2Yuu_szyj6HSeoSoW5aBP9y4iihCGvAnEBGMByTYnvxcyWw/s700/philadelphia_crime_07192021_1.webp" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="420" data-original-width="700" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhERybMM2ZTex-_8EPe3pFzMBQ7fvcB8SVHLpHgcfMl4uIc_fwTR6NrgUTSOtR5e2mR9jVBE-wiS1R4qh561SUHlKf_URPHFvUxhmQsfHTEYlbxsSBzZsxJ7_mkx0mK9jMpAN2fYPg5i6I2Yuu_szyj6HSeoSoW5aBP9y4iihCGvAnEBGMByTYnvxcyWw/w400-h240/philadelphia_crime_07192021_1.webp" width="400" /></a></div><br /><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">HISTORICAL CONTEXT <o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Production <o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The relative
success of 2015’s </span><a href="http://thesociologistsdojo.blogspot.com/2023/02/the-films-of-karyn-kusama-invitation.html"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The
Invitation</span></i></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">, and the social capital Kusama acquired
through critical praise and admiration of her peers, did not translate into
more money, or a more secure production. Part of this could be the (reasonable)
demand Kusama has to get final cut of her films from studios, something she
would not give up after </span><a href="http://thesociologistsdojo.blogspot.com/2022/11/the-films-of-karyn-kusama-aeon-flux.html"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Aeon
Flux </span></i></a><span class="MsoHyperlink"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">.</span></i></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">
The combination of these factors may have had the unfortunate consequence of never
giving Kusama unwavering studio support. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Instead, she financed and wrote the script for
the film along with Phil Hay and Paul Manfredi, in addition to directing,
hoping that a distribution company would come through. On <i>The </i>Invitation,
it was Netflix. On Destroyer, Annapurna was the savior. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Additionally, like most
of her other films, <i>Destroyer</i> had both limited time and a limited
budget. With only 9 million dollars in the coffers and a tight, location based
heavy 33 day shooting schedule, Kusama had to employ some “Guerrilla style” “run
and gun” quick filmmaking made popular by 70’s white male auteurs. Yet, unlike
those self-obsessed narcissistic douche bags that were so revered that they
eventually <b>became Hollywood </b>by establishing their own movie studios,
Kusama was not even given the same clout. Kusama didn’t even get the clout Michael
Mann had with <i>Heat, </i>nor Kathryn Bigalow’s <i>Point Break,</i> both films
being a direct influence on the way that Kusama Shoots LA in this film. It was
not until Nicole Kidman signed on after </span><a href="https://www.indiewire.com/2019/01/nicole-kidman-karyn-kusama-destroyer-mystery-thriller-1202034683/"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">searching
for a nuanced script</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"> that <i>Destroyer</i> got the clout necessary
to be made.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Nicole Kidman is
unrecognizable in this role. Taking a page from Charlize Theron in <i>Monster, </i>Kidman
transforms herself into a physically and emotionally broken husk of a person.
The Flashbacks then become increasingly pointed as the audience attempts to follow
the trajectory of Bell’s decline from the person we see in 2002, going
undercover, to the self-medicating, addled, but still relentlessly driven Det.
Erin Bell in 2018. It was a role that was elevated by Kidman having the flu
throughout most of the filming, and according to Kidman, was hard to shake emotionally
for weeks after the shoot was over.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This relentless and lingering nature of the
film is felt by the audience through its cinematography. Shot by Julie Kirkwood,
the film is one of the few to accurately convey the sheer punishment of the Sun
on the “Asphalt Jungle” that is Los Angeles. Kirkwood uses harsh over-exposure lighting
(mainly from redirected natural light) to capture the feeling of our blindingly
aggressive star gently cooking you from millions of miles away. Every time that
Kidman opens her eyes after a memory, we are reminded of that aggression,
witnessing the sun sap the strength from the characters with each passing
minute. Outside of the use of the Sun to express character disorientation, the
rest of the film is leeched of color. While I am unaware if they shot digitally
or on film, it seems like they provided a granular effect through “seeing” the
film grain.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This all establishes a mood
and tone of the film that is attempting to capture the grittiness of films like
<i>Serpico, Dog Day Afternoon, </i>and <i>The French Connection, </i>giving
Bell’s pursuit of the bank robbers a layer of gravitas.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">In the opening scene of <i>Destroyer,
</i>Bell is called to the scene of a murder. After she is given the details by
another detective on the scene, Bell cryptically muses “What if I know who did
this?” as she leaves the scene of the crime. It takes us nearly the entire run
time of the film to get back to this scene where it is revealed that Bell
killed the victim…the bank Robbing mastermind, Silas. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One of the mantras of film editing is “If it
is done correctly, you won’t even notice.” This is especially true for films
with dual and intersecting timelines. Aside from the first scene that bookends
the film, most of the film is linearly focused with the use of flashbacks to
give context. Yet, the revelation that the beginning scene was actually the end
causes the audience, upon rewatch, to question the order of scenes, and whether
or not one scene precedes the other, or if it is more convoluted, which adds to
the craft of the picture as a whole.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The Racism of the Second Amendment and
Policing <o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>To understand the implications of <i>Destroyer
</i>as a crime film in the way that it portrays police, corruption, crime, and
violence; there needs to be a foundational examination of the subject itself: police
and policing. Historian Roxanne Dunbar Ortiz (2018) first makes the claim that policing
and the Second amendment are intimately intertwined, not only with each other,
but with American Racism as both its weapon and origin. The establishment of
the Second Amendment to right and bear arms was, </span><a href="https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/research-reports/how-nra-rewrote-second-amendment"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">before
the NRA reinterpreted it,</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"> only supposed to be applied to those
that were a part of <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“a well-regulated
militia” in their function of maintaining a “free State.” For generations,
scholars have debated the vague language of the second amendment trying to decipher
the meaning and intent of its ambiguity. However, according to Dunbar-Ortiz
(2018) and Anderson (2020) there is a direct causal relationship between weapon
access, racism, and police violence.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The
relationship between the Second Amendment policing and racism is constructed
out of what those “well-regulated” militia were ordered to do. They were
regularly ordered to use their arms to “discover, pursue, fight, surprise,
destroy and subdue the enemy.” (Dunbar-Ortiz 2018:45). The vagueness of the
term “enemy” is specifically planted to eventually and continuously supersede
it with whatever new target is decided upon. Throughout history “enemy” in this
context has meant near anything from Indigenous people, the poor and indigent,
to Black people and immigrants. The armed militia became the precursor to
modern policing specifically when they were formed into slave patrols after Emancipation
(Dunbar- Ortiz, 2018).<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Slave
Patrols was the name given to Militia’s when they were used between 1700-1865
to hunt down Black people who escaped slavery to prevent labor loss from white
slavers. Many of these patrols were populated by impoverished white men in an
effort to “draw a color line” between people of similar social class standing
(Zinn, 2000).<a href="https://d.docs.live.net/bb5a620476910e43/Documents/Sociologists%20Dojo/Destroyer%20Review%20.docx#_ftn1" name="_ftnref1" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn1;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[1]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
Not only were these slave patrols given enormous amounts of discretion as to
the methods by which they captured and returned these people into bondage, but
many of these methods also became the structural foundation of modern policing,
such as: formal questioning, stakeouts, raids, detention, and apprehension.
Additionally, the language of the police was directly pulled from these groups:
patrol being the most obvious but also the term “beat”, and tonfa “Night Sticks”
originally called “N*** Knockers”. Eventually, there would be an
institutionalization of slave patrols into modern policing through deputization
and the eventual Policing mechanism of the Criminal Justice System. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This meant that from a Black person’s
perspective, “there was no distinction between patrollers, the Klan or White
policemen” (Dunbar-Ortiz 2018:69). <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Through
the lived historical antagonism of white men with guns free to enact domestic
terrorism upon the Black population caused Black People to understand and exercise
their 2<sup>nd</sup> amendment rights when they were eventually applied to them
in the late 1960’s. Ironically, when organizations like the Black Panthers
started to lawfully exercise their 2<sup>nd</sup> amendment rights, Gun
activists like </span><a href="https://www.history.com/news/black-panthers-gun-control-nra-support-mulford-act"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">the
NRA began to support Gun control legislation</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">. According to
Carol Anderson (2021) this points to the reality that the second amendment, and
its interpretation, is ultimately </span><a href="https://publicintegrity.org/inequality-poverty-opportunity/carole-anderson-the-second-amendment-is-anti-black/"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">antiblack
in its creation and enforcement <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>to the point that the ability for black
Americans </span><a href="https://harvardlawreview.org/forum/vol-135/racist-gun-laws-and-the-second-amendment/"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">to
rightfully access,</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"> hold on to, and lawfully discharge a
firearm became increasingly difficult as these gun laws disproportionally </span><a href="https://thehill.com/opinion/criminal-justice/456243-actually-gun-restrictions-will-target-the-black-community/"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">negatively
affect Black people</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">. Anderson (2021) points to a variety of
different related gun laws: Conceal and carry, “Stand your Ground” laws, no
knock raids, the castle doctrine being adjudicated differently based upon race.
Anderson (2021) specifically points to the acquittal of Kyle Rittenhouse and the
murder of Ahmaud Arbery whose killers only were arrested after video was
released, followed by a strong public outcry on social media.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This ultimately supports Anderson’s (2021)
overall premise: That the Second Amendment is in place and enforced as protection
for white people against Black people; because “Blackness is the weapon that
[white people] fear.” Thereby keeping black people in a constant state of
rightlessness (Anderson 2021: 158).<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The motivations behind Rittenhouse’s
and the Murderers of Ahmaud Arbery are heavily tied to popular culture
consumption and the representation/glorification of the “lone wolf” hero
protecting their home and family (or in the case of Rittenhouse, random
property in another state) <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>from the evil
dregs of society (often coded as Black and Brown people) is an image that is
romanticized as idyllically masculine, and has been played out on screen for
the last 40+ years. The one-man army style action film that dominated the
1980’s and 90’s with names like Stallone, Schwarzenegger, Lungren, Segal, Van
Damme, Norris, and Willis all reinforced this sense of masculinity that was
tied to gun violence. This masculinity has also been influenced by the typical
“movie cop” trope of which <i>Destroyer </i>supports and subverts in a variety
of ways.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhftLPhHVO8pZhkEX1-t1AWnIk9AILMcKvQ6_ORw1jtw9OVib16yrEQhSX36KLVhQeYZle8GTXszC-i-kWd0niQczvbWJhQgq1dpiGlcnhnhcll54YpmmrvGrKDeAmLqYWl0zYGv1nWscWsQ7bT9ntQvlyTm6T4BLk4lc9uS_p3Hds9xwE-6DyVdjmQCA/s1200/c33454f25081d30f6450081812864995.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="675" data-original-width="1200" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhftLPhHVO8pZhkEX1-t1AWnIk9AILMcKvQ6_ORw1jtw9OVib16yrEQhSX36KLVhQeYZle8GTXszC-i-kWd0niQczvbWJhQgq1dpiGlcnhnhcll54YpmmrvGrKDeAmLqYWl0zYGv1nWscWsQ7bT9ntQvlyTm6T4BLk4lc9uS_p3Hds9xwE-6DyVdjmQCA/w400-h225/c33454f25081d30f6450081812864995.jpg" width="400" /></a></b></div><b><br /></b><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">SOCIAL ANALYSIS<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span></span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Kusama’s
<i>Destroyer </i>is a social and cultural product of a film industry that
regularly depicts the drama of police officers without a clear understanding of
the occupation. While this is true of any occupation depicted in Hollywood
movies, the way so many productions flagrantly gloss over ethical responsibilities,
and systemic oversight of actual police work, is irresponsible. This becomes more
dangerous and a much larger issue when the ability for cinema to motivate and
shape decision making is factored in. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></b></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The Movie Cop Trope <a href="https://d.docs.live.net/bb5a620476910e43/Documents/Sociologists%20Dojo/Destroyer%20Review%20.docx#_ftn2" name="_ftnref2" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn2;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[2]</span></b></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a><o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Every police procedural film
and television show has the character that is “the wild card” who disregards
the rules and does anything to get their criminal. Sometimes referred to as “</span><a href="https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/CowboyCop"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The
Cowboy Cop Trope”</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"> these characteristics have dominated the
artform for almost two generations. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The Common criteria for a “Cowboy Cop” trope:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Openly disobeys orders. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Flaunts their disrespect for the rules. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Has a maverick-like style. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Abuses power <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Has unsubstantiated theories based upon
conspiracy and conjecture (which are then proven correct)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Passionate about breaking the system of
corruption.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Has a tragic backstory and a moral
foundation/ possible heart of gold.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">While the number of examples of this trope have waned
in recent years, even to the point of parody for this cliché, much of the current
“cop drama” content stand on the foundation of these films that project the problematic
behaviors into the psyche of those watching it today. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Destroyer’s Gender subversion of the
typical trope <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span></span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Most
of the examples that are given to the cowboy/heroic/hero cop (Yes, I combined
them all) are usually white men. This is no surprise, not only because the history
of Hollywood only giving these roles to such men, but the ability to hold such
characteristics and be alive, let alone revered, is a positive consequence of
being white men. It is their whiteness and cis/het gender and sexual
performance that shields them from criticism and allows such behavior to go
unchecked. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Kidman’s Erin Bell is one of the few times we
get to see this grizzled strung-out “Cowboy cop” be embodied by a woman.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Unlike her masculinely male counterparts, she
is not revered. She is constantly being hounded by her Commander and her
Partner (hoping to be brought in on whatever they think she is working on) and
the little interactions that we see between Bell and other officers, she is rebuffed
and dismissed almost immediately upon arriving. Kusama, Hay and Manfredi gave Bell
all the trappings of a “cowboy hero cop” without the propagandic fantasy of
money, glory, and the adulation of the public. Instead, they brought it down to
reality with Bell experiencing distrust, scorn, and ambivalence. Unfortunately,
this more reality-based take on the trope adds to the criticism of the
character. Yet, given that the same criticism is rarely applied to men
exhibiting these tropes, when applied to Bell, it comes off as nothing more
than thinly veiled misogyny. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><br /></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/ww1Ik2WlW1s" width="320" youtube-src-id="ww1Ik2WlW1s"></iframe></div><br /> <o:p></o:p><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The Movie Cop as Propaganda
and Police Recruitment <o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>In
1956, Sociologist </span><a href="http://thesociologistsdojo.blogspot.com/2017/01/sociologist-spotlight-c-wright-mills.html"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">C.
Wright Mills in his book <i>The Power Elite</i></span></a><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"> </span></i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">discussed
the collusion of the three powerful social institutions in the United States,
that of the Military, the Economy and The Government. The name for this
collusion, the Military Industrial Complex, was attributed to Dwight D.
Eisenhower during his farewell presidential address in 1961. What was
considerably absent from this analysis, that was later filled in by other
scholars in the interim, was the overall role of the media in this enterprise. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The role of the media, and more specifically
Hollywood, in the overall interconnection between these powerful systems is as
a propaganda machine and recruitment tool. Since World War II, the media has
been used to not </span><a href="https://www.cbc.ca/radio/ideas/how-hollywood-became-the-unofficial-propaganda-arm-of-the-u-s-military-1.5560575"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">only
shape the public opinion about war, but to also provide the Military with large
numbers of young, able-bodied recruits.</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"> Many of these tactics
include but are not limited to: fear mongering (through news media), a sense of
cultural pride (through an appeal to nationalism), to expressions of gender (combining
militarization with masculinity) and economic stability (GI Bill and the Poor).
This has led to the entire entertainment industry, from books and films, to
television and video games, to be linked with the military and the broader
department of defense. This Hollywood connection has been disparagingly referred
to as “The Military-Entertainment Industrial complex” or more succinctly, “</span><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Militainment-Inc-Media-Popular-Culture/dp/0415999782"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Militainment</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">”.
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><a href="https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2011-aug-21-la-ca-military-movies-20110821-story.html"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">According
to Rebecca Keegan</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"> (2011): <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;">Filmmakers
gain access to equipment, locations, personnel and information that lend their
productions authenticity, while the armed forces get some measure of control
over how they’re depicted. That’s important not just for recruiting but also
for guiding the behavior of current troops and appealing to the U.S. taxpayers
who foot the bills</span></i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Thereby many films, TV show episodes or Video Games
that are about, or feature, any aspect of the military (</span><a href="https://www.academia.edu/32167531/Transforming_Transformers_into_Militainment_Interrogating_the_DoD_Hollywood_Complex"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">regardless
of genre</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">) will have a military consultant assigned to them if
the filmmakers want to keep their overall costs down. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The
development of this relationship between entertainment and the military began
in early Hollywood with film directors making legitimate Propaganda films in
the 1940’s (look at Frank Capra’s film: “Why We Fight.”). This continued
through the 1950’s and 60’s with the films of John Wayne, members of the Rat
Pack and Elvis. Yet, this collusion wasn’t solidified until the Reaganite 80’s
with the release of <i>Top Gun </i>in 1986<i>.</i> </span><a href="https://www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2022-05-30/top-gun-maverick-memorial-day-tom-cruise-pentagon-propaganda"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The
Navy was heavily involved with the film as a consultant</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"> ultimately
increasing Navy recruitment by a staggering, but yet unsubstantiated, 500%.
Thirty-five years later, that link is still strong with its sequel <i>Top Gun:
Maverick</i> not only being </span><a href="https://www.vox.com/23141487/top-gun-maverick-us-military-hollywood-oscar-winner-best-sound"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">nominated
for best picture</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">, but praised as being the film that saved
theaters after the COVID-19 lockdown. Any film that is contentious, or critical
of the military and its mission, will not get support. Oliver Stone had a very
difficult time getting his films <i>Platoon </i>and <i>Born on the Fourth of
July</i> funded because </span><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/film/2022/may/26/top-gun-for-hire-why-hollywood-is-the-us-militarys-best-wingman"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">the
military rejected his funding requests</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"> given the depiction of
the Military in those films.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>In a </span><a href="http://thesociologistsdojo.blogspot.com/2020/06/black-lives-matter-batman-and-police.html"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">previous
essay</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">, I discussed the way in which the Military Industrial
Complex, through its operation, and motivated by profit ultimately results in
the Militarization of the Police force and the inherent dangers that come with
that (Balko 2021). The same parallel can be found in the use of the
entertainment industry by the police. Just as the military uses film, Tv, and
Video games to shape their public image and increase recruitment, so too does state
and local police rely on the heroic image of cops to secure increased levels of
funding, shape the public perception, and increase recruitment.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Dubbed
“Copaganda” by Academic Stephen Thrasher, this is the collusion between the
institutions of police and the media that “</span><a href="https://blog.oup.com/2022/01/beyond-copaganda-hollywoods-offscreen-relationship-with-the-police/"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">describes
the perceived capacity of screen representations to promote law enforcement</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">.”
The movie cop tropes are a part of this. Most of the depictions of law
enforcement in popular culture are favorable in their attitudes of cops
overall. Sure, in addition to the “Hero” cop trope, there might also be a dirty
cop, or one that goes outside of the law, but usually by stories end, bad cops
are punished, cowboy cops are vindicated, and hero cops are praised; always
seeing the Institution through an individual lens; promoting the false
narrative that the Institution is strong, unbiased, and just. It is only a “few
bad apples” that need to be thrown away. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">It is this form of manipulation
that shapes the white public perception of police officers to believe their sense
of justice and righteousness is above reproach. This is predominately because,
on average, white people have fewer direct interactions with the police, and
when they do, they are far less antagonistic. White culture teaches its
children to see the police as saviors, as those you run to for help and
assistance. This racialized cultural norm, coupled with a lack of interaction
with actual police officers in the exercising of their duties, result in white
people using film and tv as the greatest single reference for their
understanding of policing. Add to this the way that a lot of these police
procedural shows and films stereotypically depict black and brown people as criminally
dangerous, white people not only support the Propaganda infused structure of
“Law and Order” (Title of a popular police Procedural now manifesting as a
political dog whistle for “antiblackness”) but they then also maintain the
racist stereotypes that are perpetuated by these media representations.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">To Defund or Abolish…<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The murders of George
Floyd and Breonna Taylor by police led to a massive protesting against police
brutality during the Summer of 2020. Out of that conflict came two popularized,
albeit misunderstood mantras “Defund” and “Abolish” the police. “Defund the
police” focuses on a reformation of the police and seeks a redistribution of
police funding into more community-based programs; ones that focus on outreach,
mental health services and alternative first responders that are trained
non-violent intervention specialists. From this perspective, it is not a
divestment in police so much as an investment in other programs and services,
designed to unburden Police Officers from being councilors, mental health
professionals, homeless shelters, and addiction experts. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Abolish
the Police” focuses on the Fragmentation and elimination of the police as they
have been perceived. This relates to an end to Police Militarization and a </span><a href="https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2020/06/warrior-cop-trainings-industry.html"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">warrior-style
training model</span></a><u><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">. <o:p></o:p></span></u></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><u><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></u><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Derecka Purnell (2020),
in her article </span><a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/07/how-i-became-police-abolitionist/613540/"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">“How I became a Police Abolitionist”</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">
articulates this beautifully: <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Police couldn’t do what we really needed.
They could not heal relationships or provide jobs. We were afraid every time we
called. When the cops arrived, I was silenced, threatened with detention, or
removed from my home. Fifteen years later, my old neighborhood still lacks
quality food, employment, schools, health care, and air—all of which increases
the risk of violence and the reliance on police. Yet I feared letting go; I
thought we needed them. Until the Ferguson, Missouri, cop Darren Wilson killed
Michael Brown. Brown had a funeral. Wilson had a wedding. Most police officers
just continue to live their lives after filling the streets with blood and
bone.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Out of this backlash against the police resulted in a
mass exodus of Police officers from the profession (either by quitting or early
retirement) to the point that now the police are facing a </span><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/25/us/police-officer-recruits.html"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">drastic
recruitment shortage</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">, because police are no longer lionized in
the ( majority white) public as being virtuous. While I expect that the
entertainment industry will be, once again, called upon to bolster their ranks,
and get police officers back in the (majority white) publics good graces<a href="https://d.docs.live.net/bb5a620476910e43/Documents/Sociologists%20Dojo/Destroyer%20Review%20.docx#_ftn3" name="_ftnref3" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn3;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[3]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>, lets at least take solace
that there are depictions of police that are anathematic to public acceptance
and recruitment, like Erin Bell.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwzfy-PrzC1ZG2_r-8KsVsyjL6ASVzEuYj7XtGLfaO17xhjZZFFRo-gZgxbUCz7uDDNVPy_Dp8OQhZCGKlLTmcNNxIRwTrxGs07Y3Z-ieR2cTRCWZUlqB1a_Bm6ajup9U0KrIppZN9TXA00rg3xaQ-49grj_4RMpWOBQuRJ-ld22G4OGWQRExEpATUsw/s1280/anderson-manufacturing-ar-open-stripped-lower-punisher-black-receiver-1620826-2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="1280" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwzfy-PrzC1ZG2_r-8KsVsyjL6ASVzEuYj7XtGLfaO17xhjZZFFRo-gZgxbUCz7uDDNVPy_Dp8OQhZCGKlLTmcNNxIRwTrxGs07Y3Z-ieR2cTRCWZUlqB1a_Bm6ajup9U0KrIppZN9TXA00rg3xaQ-49grj_4RMpWOBQuRJ-ld22G4OGWQRExEpATUsw/w400-h225/anderson-manufacturing-ar-open-stripped-lower-punisher-black-receiver-1620826-2.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">CONCLUSION <o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span></span></b><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Destroyer
</span></i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">is
a masterpiece. It is a well-crafted neo-noir crime thriller that consciously
weaves together an emotionally dense character study with the drama of corrupt
police procedural. It is a representation of cinematic tropes in Hollywood
flipped by gender swapping the typical protagonist to these stories. It rejects
the cultural norm and history of the media being used as a propaganda machine
and recruitment tool. Instead, Erin Bell, like so many of her 70’s male
counterparts (on which she was based) is a cautionary tale of the dangers the
institution of police can become without extensive regulation, or outright
abolition. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">REFERENCES</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Anderson, Carol 2021. <i>The Second: Race and Guns in
a Fatally Unequal America </i>New York: Bloomsbury Publishing<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Blako, Radley 2021 <i>Rise of the Warrior Cop: The
Militarization of America's Police Forces: Revised and Updated</i> New York:
Public Affairs<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Dunbar-Ortiz, Roxanne 2018. <i>Loaded: A Disarming
History of the Second Amendment </i>San Francisco City of Lights Books.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Keegan, Rebecca 2011. “The US Military’s Hollywood
Connection” in <i>The Los Angeles Times </i>Retrieved at <a href="https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2011-aug-21-la-ca-military-movies-20110821-story.html">https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2011-aug-21-la-ca-military-movies-20110821-story.html</a><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Retrieved on: 4/9/23<i><o:p></o:p></i></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Purnell, Derecka 2020. “How I became a Police Abolitionist.”
In <i>The Atlantic </i>Retrieved at: <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/07/how-i-became-police-abolitionist/613540/">https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/07/how-i-became-police-abolitionist/613540/</a>
Retrieved on 4/9/2023 <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; text-indent: -.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Stahl,
Roger 2009.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i>Militainment, Inc.: War,
Media, and Popular Culture</i> New York: Routledge<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; text-indent: -.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Zinn
Howard 2000. <i>A People’s History of the United States 1492- Present </i>New
York: Harper Perennial <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
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<!--[endif]-->
<div id="ftn1" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<p class="MsoFootnoteText"><a href="https://d.docs.live.net/bb5a620476910e43/Documents/Sociologists%20Dojo/Destroyer%20Review%20.docx#_ftnref1" name="_ftn1" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn1;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[1]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
Many members of The Clan also organized their own illegal slave patrols, but
they like militias were not well regulated. <o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="ftn2" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<p class="MsoFootnoteText"><a href="https://d.docs.live.net/bb5a620476910e43/Documents/Sociologists%20Dojo/Destroyer%20Review%20.docx#_ftnref2" name="_ftn2" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn2;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[2]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a> To
be fair there are many cop tropes in film and TV. There is the Bad cop, The
Corrupt Cop, and <a href="https://the-take.com/watch/the-hero-cop-trope-revisited"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;">The hero cop trope”</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;"> among others. </span><o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="ftn3" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<p class="MsoFootnoteText"><a href="https://d.docs.live.net/bb5a620476910e43/Documents/Sociologists%20Dojo/Destroyer%20Review%20.docx#_ftnref3" name="_ftn3" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn3;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[3]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a> If
you want an example of a piece of police related media content that responds to
public perceptions rather than try to change it, I recommend <i>Brooklyn 99</i>.
The initial premise of the show is a comedic spoof on police procedurals, the
main protagonist, Jake Peralta, <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>growing
up on 70’s and 80’s Cop shows and movies wants to be “The Hero cop” but as the
culture around the show shifted (especially in 2020) had Jake learn about the
seediness of 70’s Cop work and the institutional racism and corruption of
Police in its final Season (The show runners rewriting the back half or the
season to reflect the social unrest surrounding the police.) <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
</div><br /><p></p>Brian Brutlaghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08099644007940320266noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8714941782515128558.post-49083538916523971292023-03-04T10:05:00.000-08:002023-03-04T10:05:13.116-08:00Death, Taxes, and Bureaucracy: A Weberian Analysis of Kurosawa's Ikiru <p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-BZ0CsR2ZFyzdDXFWR5zUVfwHoa3i4CH6gp-hlla4uWt8ABJiFQMkPRIpHB7ShO1RSGIELeEh1KS_Oiun2eIHN3-N57mTskXf5CuSa8M2n-Ypa4p20JBHggCt9o_rLOsCzQPsKzaZuUKDfR2vb7011dGGVZCKYy4rjt7o89DjiNZiCKlvXchFNNvUpw/s1000/11095081_0.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1000" data-original-width="750" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-BZ0CsR2ZFyzdDXFWR5zUVfwHoa3i4CH6gp-hlla4uWt8ABJiFQMkPRIpHB7ShO1RSGIELeEh1KS_Oiun2eIHN3-N57mTskXf5CuSa8M2n-Ypa4p20JBHggCt9o_rLOsCzQPsKzaZuUKDfR2vb7011dGGVZCKYy4rjt7o89DjiNZiCKlvXchFNNvUpw/w300-h400/11095081_0.jpg" width="300" /></a></div><p style="text-align: center;"><br /></p><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>For
many people in the United States, the beginning of the year is met with wonder
and whimsy about the (seemingly) endless possibilities of the year to come.
They make plans, look forward to events, and cultivate a purposeful motivation
to get through another rotation around the sun. As someone who studies systems,
I unfortunately see every coming new year as the inevitable and consistent
bureaucratic reset button; that we must do everything all over again, just like
last year, with the possibility of being slightly easier or more difficult than
the year before. No matter what else the rest of the year brings to us, these systems,
and our place within them (usually) stays constant.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is this concept of joyful life juxtaposed
within a bureaucratic organization, that is the central theme of Akira
Kurosawa’s masterpiece <i>Ikiru</i>. In this paper, I will be using (primarily)
a Weberian analysis to illustrate how the film understands organizational
systems, and an individuals’ place within them; ultimately causing neither to be
“alive.”<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/2VeLN3IDjzQ" width="320" youtube-src-id="2VeLN3IDjzQ"></iframe></div><br /><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">PLOT <o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">After being given a
terminal cancer diagnosis, a government “salaryman” Kenji Watanabe (Shimura) falls
into an existential crisis, trying to grasp at the embers of life before they
are snuffed out. He drinks, gambles, sees prostitutes, all with the same
dispassion that he held at his job. It is only when a young government employee
(Miki Odagiri) becomes his life muse, that he is finally filled with passion
and vigor. Yet, as he becomes increasingly obsessed with the vitality of her,
he struggles with finding it within himself. It is only by building a
playground for a local community, that he finally understands, for him, life is
found in the service of others.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">HISTORICAL CONTEXT<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Production<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span><o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Loosely based on the
Tolstoy novella “The Death of Ivan Ilych”, <i>Ikiru </i>marks the first
collaboration Kurosawa had with long time writing partner Hideo Oguni, who
helped him pen the bulk of Kurosawa’s masterpieces. Oguni’s idea of having the
protagonist die halfway through the film got him the job. The film was written
relatively quickly, Feb 1952, and was release later that October. It was
initially screened at the Berlin International Film Festival which got its attention
to the international markets, releasing in New York in 1960.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/2002/08/16/the-three-kings/3e89db63-182d-4011-af0b-6f91eabac708/"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The
Three Kings</span></i></a><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"> <o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Three contemporaries of
20<sup>th</sup> century Japanese Cinema were Akira Kurosawa, Yasujiro Ozu and
Kenji Mizoguchi. Each Director’s work speaks to various aspects of Japanese
culture and filmmaking of the time. Given that Kurosawa was often (unfairly)
criticized as being too western in his approach, many of Kurosawa’s films do
not often get compared to his directing peers. Instead, many film critics opt
to either compare Kurosawa’s work to his influences (Jon Ford) or those he
directly inspired (Lucas, Scorsese, Coppola and Spielberg). When Kurosawa is compared
to the others, especially Ozu, Kurosawa often ends up considered less than.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">In a reprinted essay for the
Criterion collection release of <i>Ikiru, </i>Donald Richie (1965) states:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">…to set Kurosawa next to
Ozu is to be startled by their differences. Ozu’s films are about characters
that stoically accept their duty, even if everything in them crise out against
it. Kurosawa’s …are about raging often quixotically against the system.<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Many other critics have made the same comparison. Ozu
is quiet, Kurosawa is loud. Ozu is meticulous where Kurosawa is broad. And
while this bifurcated comparison is often used to didactically criticize
Kurosawa for “not being Japanese enough”, <i>Ikiru</i> seems to be an intersecting
point. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Kurosawa blends his typical” the
raging against the system” message with an Ozuian reserved acceptance of the
other salarymen at its climax. Even Mizoguchi’s penchant for the disruption of
the patriarchy in <i>Ugetsu,</i> is commented on in <i>Ikiru</i>’s relationship
between Kenji and Toyo. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Each of these directors
in a variety of their projects have taken on western influences. Mizoguchi
began his career being influenced by Tolstoy and German expressionism while Ozu
was influenced by Welles’ <i>Citizen Kane</i>. The differences are that with
Ozu and Mizoguchi, their western influences were early at the beginning of
their careers, while Kurosawa leaned into the comparison throughout his. This
may have unfairly led to Kurosawa becoming more successful (internationally)
and widely more well known than his fellow masters; but it often comes across
as Kurosawa seeming like the westerly assimilated younger brother of a
traditional Japanese family, that is critical of their loss of culture. Conversely,
I find Kurosawa’s work to be a delicate balance of viewing Japanese culture
filtered through a western filmmaking style, highlighting both comparison and
criticisms. Kurosawa is not a western director, but he is a director that can
be easily more digestible to western audiences (given his influences) making
him more popular; while perceived among some traditionalists, as being less
authentic. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Adaptations</span></i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>As
with many of Kurosawa’s other pictures, <i>Ikiru </i>has been a sought-after
project for adaptation. Surprisingly, aside from a Hindi remake in 1973 titled <i>Anand,
</i>the remakes of <i>Ikiru </i>have been sparse. The most notable adaptation
of <i>Ikiru</i> as of this writing, happened just last year when British
filmmakers adapted Kurosawa’s and Oguni’s script into the film <i>Living, </i>directed
by Oliver Humanus, and starring Bill Nighty. True to form, the ending of this western
adaptation leans into the hopeful nature of the protagonist’s accomplishments,
believing that he has made a difference, whereas in Kurosawa’s version, it is
far more ambiguous. <i>Living </i>is currently under consideration for best
adapted Screenplay at the </span><a href="https://variety.com/2023/film/news/oscar-nominations-2023-list-1235495072/"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">95<sup>th</sup>
Academy Awards</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Another
unlikely <i>Ikiru </i>adaptation, that still leans in to the hopefulness of
hopeless government bureaucracy is the Mike Schur run sitcom </span><a href="https://www.avclub.com/parks-and-recreation-pilot-1798206023"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Parks
and Recreation</span></i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">.</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"> The initial pilot of the
series follows affable, but ignorant, Leslie Knope (Amy Poehler), taking on the
(seemingly) monumental task of filling in “the pit” (lot 48), and turning it
into a park, after concerned citizen, Ann Perkins (Rashida Jones), brings it to
her attention during a townhall meeting. By the second season, the series
retools Leslie to eliminate her ignorance and make her both good and successful
at her job. For the bulk of the series, Leslie mirrors <i>Ikiru</i>’s Watanabe
as they both skulk around government buildings hoping to get paperwork signed, city
ordinances notarized, and environmental impact reports filed. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><br /></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/FnYYs4rZj1s" width="320" youtube-src-id="FnYYs4rZj1s"></iframe></div><br /><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">THEORETICAL INTERLUDE<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“The bureaucratization of the social order,
inherit in most western democracies, is the polar night of icy darkness”-<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Max Weber <o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">According to Weber (2019), the
social structure is regulated by a certain type of authority, to maintain
order.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The type of authority dictates
the order of society; and how it operates.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Traditional:
</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">This type of authority is believed
to exist within society through “natural relationships” (authority structures
based on bloodlines/ birth order) that have been in existence from a
long-lasting system of beliefs (i.e., the belief that one’s authority is legitimated
by being ordained by a higher power). This allows generations of the same
family to remain in power because of the same indoctrinated beliefs that
solidify unequal structures.<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"> </b>According
to Weber (2019) in traditional authority, obedience is owed to the person or
the chief who occupies the traditionally sanctioned position, and who is bound
by tradition.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Charismatic:
</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">This type of authority draws its
legitimacy through the individual person in power; their characteristics and
abilities. These characteristics are believed to not be possessed by everyone; that
the authority figure is “special”. Because of this, the charismatic authority can:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-list: l2 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">-<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Make people believe what they want
you to believe. (They’re persuasive)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-list: l2 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">-<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Seemingly move people out of
complacency especially if it is a transition from something different. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">However, Weber (2019) notes that the charismatic leader(s) must
prove themselves to the public.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>These
individuals do not derive their “right” from their own will. Rather, it is the
duty of those whom they address, to recognize the charismatic person as their
leader (usually through and election).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Therefore,
much of the “specialness” of the charismatic leader is not due to something
inherent in the individual; but due to the historical, social, and political
context they are living in, and the people who define them as such.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Many charismatic leaders have come to power
as an answer to the previous leadership/authority structure. In fact, the
social structure dictates the rise of different types of charismatic authority
at different times. Because this type of authority is an affront to other types
of authority, charismatic authority is often routinized by the bureaucracy; (especially
if it’s successful). <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Therefore,
bureaucracy can be perceived as the death of charisma.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Bureaucratic-Rational/Legal:
</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">This type of authority is derived
from the rule of law and is legally and rationally enacted.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Thus, The President of the United States
derives their power from the laws of society. This authority is often
identified as the most democratic because:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-list: l2 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">-<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">It treats everyone the same (like a
number)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-list: l2 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">-<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Gives people equal opportunity to
access power. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">However, Weber (2019) mentions that this type of authority
also seeks to increase the superiority of the professionally informed by
keeping their knowledge and intentions a secret.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>To this he gives the examples of secret or closed-door
sessions that solidify a dominance structure by cutting off information.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is used to create domination through
objectifying, depersonalizing, and demystifying its subjects, to make things
more stagnant, complacent, and efficient.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Yet, in operation, this authority tends to be quite inefficient for
those under its rule.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is this type of
authority that is used in the formation of bureaucratic social structures
within our society. In fact, the bureaucracy is a creation of the modern world
which leads to formal rationalization. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>BUREAUCRACY <o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">According to Weber (2019), bureaucracies have distinct
characteristics that separate it from any other type of social structure.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The scope of bureaucracies, especially under
a legal rational authority, is far reaching causing many organizations and
operations to be modeled after the bureaucratic structure thereby creating
uniformity. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Characteristics<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-list: l5 level1 lfo2; tab-stops: list .5in; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">1)<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span></b><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Bureaucracies
function and are organized around rules (laws or administrative regulations)
that are fixed within specific offices, occupied by specific officials in jurisdictional
areas. Regular activities required for
the bureaucracy are distributed to different offices, and the authority to
carry out those tasks, is also similarly distributed. Essentially, this means
that bureaucracies are ruled over by individuals who occupy offices that have
fixed jurisdictions, and who determine what kind of behavior is regulated. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-list: l5 level1 lfo2; tab-stops: list .5in; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">2)<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Bureaucracies, and their offices, are organized into a
hierarchy </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">which disseminates authority across
the entire structure.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Each office has
authority and power over a specific set of behaviors or actions which does not
infiltrate into another’s office. But power in one office can be superseded by another
if it is placed higher in the hierarchy. This supposedly opens the lines of
communication, allowing decisions in a lower office to a higher authority; but
that does not mean that the higher authority can take over the business of the
lower completely, it can only do that when the lower offices “aren’t
functioning.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-list: l5 level1 lfo2; tab-stops: list .5in; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">3)<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The management and communication of bureaucracies
happen via written documents (memos, letters, e-mails etc.) which are
preserved for posterity for a pre-prescribed amount of time.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Therefore, there is an entire staff of
officials that scribe all communications and distribute them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This helps to maintain a distance between work
and home and regulates the types of communication that is acceptable within the
bureaucracy.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-list: l5 level1 lfo2; tab-stops: list .5in; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">4)<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Hiring and working in
a bureaucracy requires/ and presupposes expert training in the field in which
they will be working.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> Many of the jobs within
bureaucracies that are not physical labor, or other kinds of lower wage work,
requires advanced training in education and orientation to do specific
jobs.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This means that many even mid-level
bureaucratic jobs require a BA or above.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The position/ job itself does not lie with the person; it belongs to the
structure.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-list: l5 level1 lfo2; tab-stops: list .5in; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">5)<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">When the bureaucratic structure is fully formed, work for
the bureaucratic structure becomes obligatory. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">This</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">causes
many private personal lives to become secondary.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The staff doesn’t own the means of production,
they are only given the tools they need to do the job. We become trapped in
Bureaucracies as we move from one to another in the everyday exploration of our
lives.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-list: l5 level1 lfo2; tab-stops: list .5in; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">6)<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Management of the Bureaucracy is done with
impersonality.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Because the bureaucracy is ruled by organized regulations
and specific rituals. The regulation of
behavior is not done on a personal level.
The bureaucratic structure punishes, and rewards failure and success
equally based upon structured criteria.
The bureaucracy is never out to get individuals in its operation. Where the issue lies, however, is in how
bureaucracies are implemented and constructed…by humans. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><o:p></o:p></b></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">RATIONALIZATION</span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">There are many types of rationalization that Weber (2019)
discusses throughout his work in Sociology. For our purposes, the type that
interests us the most in this analysis of <i>Ikiru,</i> is <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">formal rationalization. </b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>According to Weber (2019), this type of
rationalization occurs with reference to universally applied rules, laws, and
regulations, that are enforced with a means-to-an-end calculation, upon both
the system itself, and everyone within it; to appear more efficient in its
functioning. Thus, a type of formal rationalization: <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">bureaucratic rationalization</b> is a type that is the most influential
and necessary for us to understand structural domination through bureaucracy.
This type of rationalization emphasizes four basic characteristics: <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo3; tab-stops: list .5in; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">1)<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Calculability:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">
This is the drive for a bureaucratic rationalization to quantify objects to the
point that quantity often takes the place of quality. There are numerical
standards by which the process and the product are judged.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There is an emphasis on speed during the
process and the amount produced; thereby reducing the importance of production
and service down to just numbers, while also reducing the quality to mediocre.
That mediocrity is then obfuscated by advertising, hoping to manufacture desire
for the unnecessary.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo3; tab-stops: list .5in; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">2)<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Predictability:
</b>The unflinching unchanging structure. Predictability allows for the same
business and operation to exist in one part of the country as it does in others.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This also allows for order by number
efficiency by the systemization, and formalization of routines, maintaining consistency,
and a methodical operation that, while it gives consumer’s peace of mind, it
also transforms everything into a suicide inducing repetition.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Individuality is the enemy, if you do things
different, its wrong and immediately corrected. Even language is scripted (e.g.:
“Hi, welcome to…”,courtesy) <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo3; tab-stops: list .5in; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">3)<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span></b><!--[endif]--><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Efficiency: </span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">This
means that you choose the optimum means to a given end.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is done through streamlining the
process, faster is better (e.g.: fill in boxes, “just swipe it”, self-checkout
lanes). To be clear, this speed is only good for the organization/institution
and not necessarily those who are affected by it (Weber 2019). <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><o:p></o:p></b></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo3; tab-stops: list .5in; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">4)<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span></b><!--[endif]--><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Control: </span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Th</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">is is often
done by replacing humans with machines, or other types of technology (automation),
and more subtly, the way bureaucratic rules, regulations manuals etc. regulate
human behavior.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Following these
controlling steps makes sure that human beings become a tool themselves. They
will be trained to control their behavior. But this control extends to the
product as well (many products come pre-packaged, pre sliced in fact
pre-prepared “just heat and eat”) so that less work needs to be done and
workers do not have to exercise either judgment or skill. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><o:p></o:p></b></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“THE IRON
CAGE”: IRRATIONAL RATIONALITY</span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">According to Weber (2019), this bureaucratic rationalization
will cover the globe by seeping into every institution, organization and
operation that make daily living possible. Because we move from one
rationalized structure to another through our daily lives, we become trapped by
this bureaucratic rationality in which we cannot escape. This is what Weber (2019)
calls <b>T</b><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">he Iron Cage.</b><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"> This is where</span> the continuation of
rational behavior, in practice, becomes increasingly irrational as basic humanity
gets denied.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The irrational trap of The
Iron Cage <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">takes</b> 5 main forms: <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-list: l4 level1 lfo4; tab-stops: list .5in; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">1)<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The absence of real(ity</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is the idea that organizations and
institutions that operate in this bureaucratic structure create environments
and/or products that either remove people from reality or take the place of it.
Disney, for example, gives consumers the idea that you can escape to a place
that is “pure magic” or “pure fun”. A place where consumers are confident it
will never change, and always be there. Secondly, other products like Mountain
Dew, has a taste that is completely synthetic (it has a taste that is not represented
in anything existing tangibly in nature). Yet, it is still seen as real and is
a part of a publicly traded company. Candy and frozen dinners have flavors
injected into them to make them taste like the food they are mimicking.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Trouble is, that those synthetic flavors
become so mass produced that it is perceived as what the actual real product
should taste like. For example: Starburst cherry taffy does not taste like
eating a cherry, but when thinking of the flavor of cherry, you are more likely
to remember the candy.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-list: l4 level1 lfo4; tab-stops: list .5in; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">2)<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span></b><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Depersonalization
</b>This is the notion that within the bureaucratic structure a person becomes
a number. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>To the State, a person is just
their social security number, to the school, their student id number, to work,
their employee id number, at a Fast-food restaurant, a ticket number.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This makes skills, thoughts, feelings, ideas,
and emotions irrelevant and distracting for the bureaucratic structure. By
assigning a number, the bureaucracy is reducing human life to something that is
expendable and ultimately replaceable; continuing to allow inhuman work in
inhuman conditions.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><o:p></o:p></b></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-list: l4 level1 lfo4; tab-stops: list .5in; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">3)<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span></b><!--[endif]--><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Disenchantment </span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">This
Weberian idea resonates from the belief that in Western societies “magical
elements of thought” are gone. Anything that is seen as fantastical and or
mythical, are either routinized or destroyed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The bureaucratic characteristic of control is an aversion to any enchanted
thoughts beyond being used as a distraction. This ultimately impacts the way
that we interact with other people. Much of our interactions, especially with
strangers in these bureaucratic structures, is disenchanted into <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">false friendliness. </b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Disenchantment often happens because. like
everything else, religions too, become engulfed in this bureaucratic plague,
forming and conforming so that every church within a particular ideology looks
and acts similar. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><o:p></o:p></b></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-list: l4 level1 lfo4; tab-stops: list .5in; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">4)<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span></b><!--[endif]--><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Standardization: </span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Everything
is the same. Business operations under the bureaucratic model for success, give
more similarities and few differences. Many corporate models for business
operate under the same organizational chart. Thus, this is when one thing
becomes like everything else.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We get so
used to this, we admonish people who do not get or follow the standardization
process. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><o:p></o:p></b></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-list: l4 level1 lfo4; tab-stops: list .5in; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">5)<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Inefficiency:
</b>Ironically, rationalized bureaucratic structures operate in a very
inefficient manner for those trapped within it. From the red tape of politics
to the long lines at the grocery stores, the following of a never-ending series
of rules, regulations and procedures is quite time consuming and the exact
opposite of efficiency. Consider the following examples: The Starbucks’ drive
thru: is supposed to be faster than going up to the counter. The Highway system,
especially in Southern California, is supposed to be in place so that people
can get where they are going faster, however this is only true at certain times
of day.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Also, in the name of efficiency,
these organizations and companies pass some of the unpaid labor onto the
consumer (personal banking, checkout lanes etc.) which is individually inefficient.
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlgly-JT6dmQvKhK6jD_X9xOxiXGjghcW2TmY5EuF0Dp6QfWt4D4cudm8O4luiIGJf5S6Fr51l7BmwBNcYuUNH30DldaTmRtleoDOAg0pTkKtf4Gj9QmL6LbxLBx4nbEpYr2sVkODpKF69CZgS_Nf-q7vJoEKm2t4LHkP3ngoLSUAG5GQIGQfzZ8LJ7A/s1000/c33454f25081d30f6450081812864995.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1000" data-original-width="750" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlgly-JT6dmQvKhK6jD_X9xOxiXGjghcW2TmY5EuF0Dp6QfWt4D4cudm8O4luiIGJf5S6Fr51l7BmwBNcYuUNH30DldaTmRtleoDOAg0pTkKtf4Gj9QmL6LbxLBx4nbEpYr2sVkODpKF69CZgS_Nf-q7vJoEKm2t4LHkP3ngoLSUAG5GQIGQfzZ8LJ7A/w300-h400/c33454f25081d30f6450081812864995.jpg" width="300" /></a></div><br /><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">CAPITALISM AND BUREAUCRACY <o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">There is an interesting
comparison and confluence when talking about Capitalism and Bureaucracy; those
are the differences between a Marxian vision of Capitalism and one shared by
Weber. Weber’s work first identifies Capitalism as the “spiritual” biproduct of
Protestantism, specifically Calvinist beliefs. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Weber <o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">According to Weber (2002)
specific Calvinist beliefs are the most important to the development of Western
Capitalism. These beliefs led to a series of behaviors that make it easier for
Capitalism to take root as an economic system. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="margin-left: .75in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo6; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">1.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span></b><!--[endif]--><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Inner
Worldly Asceticism: </span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">This is the understanding that Calvinists
believe in focusing in on the present, and the tangible world. This is in
opposition to Catholics whom Protestants believed were “Outer worldly
Hedonists” who indulge in worldly pleasures, while exalting the existence of
post-mortem kingdoms of gold, and a life everlasting, easily achieved through
slight acts of contrition. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Instead, what
matters to Calvinists, is their thoughts, behaviors and actions that exist in
the world that they live in. They were encouraged to be frugal and only
spend what they needed, and to not be
wasteful.<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: .75in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo6; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">2.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span></b><!--[endif]--><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The
Belief in Predestination. </span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Calvinists believe that it is already
predetermined whether an individual was “destined” for their version of
“Heaven” or “Hell”. Because of this unknown, Calvinists had to look for “Signs
of Salvation” based upon their belief system. One sign of salvation that they
decided on, was that of “Hard work.” If someone was perceived to be “working
hard” then it was more likely that they would get into “Heaven”<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="margin-left: .75in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo6; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">3.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span></b><!--[endif]--><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The
Belief that a person’s Job was a “Calling”.</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"> This is the
Calvinist understanding that whatever job an individual performs, that job is
perceived as a “calling from “god”. Therefore, success in a person’s career is
also success with “god.” Most occupational successes are measured by wealth<b>.</b><a href="https://d.docs.live.net/bb5a620476910e43/Documents/Sociologists%20Dojo/Death%20and%20Taxes%20The%20Bureaucracy%20of%20Ikiru.docx#_ftn1" name="_ftnref1" style="font-weight: bold;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[1]</span></b></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>These beliefs create the social behaviors that
allow Capitalism to arise and take root in a particular society. Frugality, hard
work, and economic success are all behaviors that are favorable to the
development of Capitalism. They are “the spirit” of Capitalism that allows the
economic system to thrive. However, Weber notes that this trajectory only
happens in western/western influenced civilizations and are only valuable until
Capitalism becomes ritualistically self-sustaining, when money itself, and its
acquisition, becomes its own ethos. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Marx<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Marx’s
understanding of Capitalism, more from the grass roots side of the conflict,
recognized the essential problems with capitalism, which left in its
unregulated natural state, would create several forms of exploitation through
Capitalism’s cycle of capital accumulation. The basic path model equation of
capitalism (M-C-M) introduces several fundamental flaws in its solution.
Firstly, that the valuing of Profit (the resulting M in the equation) ultimately
causes the dehumanization of people both within the workforce (labor) and outside
of it (consumers). There is a foundational axiom of “profit over people” that
Capitalism evokes which is carried out through the alienation of the workers
(through outsourcing and automation) and the exploitation of consumers (through
price gouging). This is what economist David Harvey calls “accumulation through
dispossession” that leads to privatization and the theft of intellectual
property (Chomsky and Waterstone 2021:57). <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">In our modern Capitalist
system, we do not sell labor anymore (as we did during slavery) instead we sell
labor power. The chief difference in social class is then measured by whether
you can obtain income and wealth only from your own labor power, or through the
labor power of other people. The bifurcated social class model that Marx
introduces is clearly delineated by the ability to buy, sell, and gain wealth
from other people’s labor power. The Bourgeoisie can gain wealth from the labor
power of their workers and themselves because they control and hold the
positions of power in the labor force. The Proletariats, on the other hand, only
have their labor power to sell for their survival. According to Chomsky and
Waterstone (2021), there is something nefariously bleak about this capitalist
system that fosters an inability of people to be able to provide and produce for
themselves. Instead, it makes workers reliant on their capacity to sell their
labor power to someone else [because the job they do isn’t owned by them, just
performed by them]. Then, the wages that they are “graced with”, must be used in
the service of consumerism to survive. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Yet,
this all gets normalized and made invisible through understanding it as common
sense…the capitalist realism which falsely believes that everything within
society should be run like a business (Chomsky and Waterstone 2021).</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><i>Weber
Answers Marx<o:p></o:p></i></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Marx believed that the
alienation that workers felt would eventually be so great that they would rise
in a glorious revolution that would shake the pillars of Capitalism down to its
core, developing first into socialism, and then communism. However, this
revolution never happened. This is because Marx underestimated the formation of
Bureaucracy and its ability to keep people complacent within the Iron Cage of
irrationality. It distracts them with frivolity and neurotic worries, that trap
them in a prison of their own making. This is the alliance between Capitalism
and Bureaucracy, both have benefited from the organization of the other. The
destruction of traditional levels of authority into a broader, seemingly
democratic legal structure, allows for a wider range of capitalist activity,
while bureaucratization also allows for the protection of private profit.
Bureaucracy is used as a precise instrument of economic domination (Gerth and
Mills 1958:230-231). <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">This is where we find the
Protagonist at the beginning of Kurosawa’s <i>Ikiru;</i> a shell of a man (mummy)
going through the motions of life, but never truly alive. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0c6y4MYtZ6MlhYDRZX_r8KJgLmol0AHXosEpLu_f9ur3QNJGWjlfavAsTiw6e1VIi9IJLRkr0HyCdjIvHy40tPEk_PLrC51Be0_F55qsQbOzTeH0W56j_Q7RXpgIJYNA6TKXIbBnNGnsUot9KeaZOHPwuOEZXkcjk3dr6SDUdE9fBgWHJwBL-DhF1ZQ/s1434/hYX1C_cUX-dh6vLff24dxmuueXGFPS89AEQYsYQwqHg.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1076" data-original-width="1434" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0c6y4MYtZ6MlhYDRZX_r8KJgLmol0AHXosEpLu_f9ur3QNJGWjlfavAsTiw6e1VIi9IJLRkr0HyCdjIvHy40tPEk_PLrC51Be0_F55qsQbOzTeH0W56j_Q7RXpgIJYNA6TKXIbBnNGnsUot9KeaZOHPwuOEZXkcjk3dr6SDUdE9fBgWHJwBL-DhF1ZQ/w400-h300/hYX1C_cUX-dh6vLff24dxmuueXGFPS89AEQYsYQwqHg.png" width="400" /></a></div><br /><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">SOCIAL ANALYSIS <o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“</span></b><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">He
is actually killing time. He has never really lived. Might as well be a corpse,
nothing left of will and passion- </span></i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Narrator. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span></span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Kurosawa’s
Masterpiece <i>Ikiru, </i>which directly translates into “To Live”, itself a
declaration of sorts, does not shy away from the central theme of bureaucracy
explained above. From the repetitive nature of Kanji Watanabe’s movements as he
shuffles papers from one side of the desk to the other, with no other discernable
difference than his minuscule stamp of approval, to the montage of the
community following the draconian labyrinth of various government departments,
Kurosawa makes clear the disempowering nature of bureaucratic systems and the life
constricting clasp of Weber’s “Iron Cage”.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Throughout
<i>Ikiru, </i>Kurosawa emphasizes one of the lesser discussed components of Bureaucracies
“Iron Cage”, Disenchantment, at the micro level. Whereas Weber primarily looked
at disenchantment through the lens of religion, and the desire to control
belief, Kurosawa brings it down to a micro level analysis, illustrating how bureaucracies
can severely impact our interactions and the development and maintenance of
relationships throughout our lives, resulting in the alienation of people, and
thereby disempowering them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>According to
C. Wright Mills (2002) one of these stratifying processes is the Bureaucratic
development of “The Cheerful Robot.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>As I
explained in a </span><a href="http://thesociologistsdojo.blogspot.com/2021/09/vaders-flesh-is-sacred-disability.html"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">previous
essay</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">: <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“The Cheerful Robots” are
the apathetic individuals of a mass society who blindly and complacently accept
their life chances as determined by fate (Trevino 2012: 191). For
Mills (2002), this is the common psychological trait for those living in a
bureaucratized capitalism. There is an emptiness to the work; a lack of
fulfillment that never gets satiated, as each task gets divided down to it
minute detail, adding to this depression. The alienation of a lack of ownership
of products is obfuscated by the psychological acceptance that the amount of
labor used determines ownership. This puts workers in a state of false
consciousness, they feel emotionally invested in their work and want to
continue producing. Yet even recreation, also becomes commodified and
rationalized, so even in leisure, workers become routinized. This
gives rise to what Mills calls “Personality Markets”; where individuals would
be able to be sold the personality traits they desire through their purchasing
of products. This commodification of identity is again another step
in the creation of a “robotic” workforce. These “robots” then become
“happy” through the creation of a social interaction “mask” each worker wears,
built on stereotypical greetings, kindness, friendliness, and personalized
service (Trevino 2012). The consistent wearing of such a “mask” stifles
creativity, magnifies feelings of estrangement, and results in self alienation.
The worker learns to just go through the motions, and manufacture emotions,
solidifying their assimilation</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">While few would call Kanji Watanabe, “cheerful”, he
maintains the amenable affability that is standard practice for the service
industry, and government positions that often translates to a mild neglect to
those they interact with. Thus, when he is given the cancer diagnosis, and his
existential crisis begins, Watanabe does not know how to interact with people. His
mask has alienated him from others. After withdrawing 50,000 yen from his account,
he ends up at a bar drinking alone, where he meets a vagrant. Through the
vagrant’s suggestions, Watanabe shops through the Millsian “Personality Market”
by trying to embody the societal presentation of someone who will die soon and
is short on time. He drinks heavily, gambles recklessly, and visits prostitutes.
But he soon realizes that this, too, will bring no joy. Society’s perception of
“living [it up]” is just as hollow as sitting at his desk with his government
stamp. Since no one else knows his cancer diagnosis, much of this is perceived
as a late midlife crisis, in part because they too, perceive his hedonistic
bacchanal as the pinnacle of joyful reckless abandon.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There are many things that are presented to
us, mainly through marketing, that promise to satiate our woe, alleviate our ennui,
and recalcitrate our revelry. This is Capitalism. The cause of the problem is
presented as a solution. The emptiness that Watanabe feels after indulging
himself in the behaviors that he is told to “want and experience”, is
Kurosawa’s testament to such a solution being both impractical and ineffective.
According to Mills (2002) this is a product of the bureaucracy itself, the
division of labor created between work and leisure. Because work is perceived
and constructed as both impersonal and alien, this requires that leisure be
full of the “personally familiar”, trying to fortify us with a variety of
prescribed and self-imposed medications to get us through another workday. Unfortunately,
we, like Watanabe are perpetually dissatisfied.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“<i>Each day men sell little
pieces of themselves in order to try and by them back each night and each
weekend with the coin of ‘fun’. With amusement, with love, with movies, with
vicarious intimacy they put themselves together to some type of whole again…” (Mills
2002:237)<o:p></o:p></i></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Kurosawa discusses this
dissatisfaction through the juxtaposition between Watanabe and Toyo Odagiri, the
government employee whom he is inspired by.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>After finding no satisfaction with the cavalcade of indulgences he had
been participating in, Watanabe becomes obsessed with Toyo, a young government
employee who, in a conversation with another worker, mentioned that she had
intentions to quit because she “didn’t want to become an old mummy” like
Watanabe. Watanabe sees in her the life and vigor that he once had and seeks to
understand the source. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">It is (pleasantly) surprising
that Kurosawa did not follow the trope of “young girl shows old man the meaning
of life.” All the secondary characters around Toyo and Kenji do not understand
their relationship and believe it is a self-destructive affair. Even Toyo and
Kenji realize the unhealthy nature of their companionship, with Toho realizing
that Kenji has become as parasitic as the government job that she wants to
leave. Again, unlike other stories of its ilk, Kurosawa leans away from
expectations and does not have Watanabe try to save her from becoming him, but instead,
tries to convince her to stay in her government job.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He becomes a cautionary tale for her, and She
is the specter of life that he gave up so that his son could have a better one.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The concept of sacrifice
is baked into bureaucratic capitalism<a href="https://d.docs.live.net/bb5a620476910e43/Documents/Sociologists%20Dojo/Death%20and%20Taxes%20The%20Bureaucracy%20of%20Ikiru.docx#_ftn2" name="_ftnref2" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn2;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[2]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>. We are conditioned
through socialization and other mechanisms of social control, to give of
ourselves; to give time, money, energy, and effort back into the society in
which we live. This is how our society runs on labor power. We are convinced to
relinquish much of ourselves to the society at large through a variety of socially
constructed motivations. For Kenji Watanabe, and many other workers, it is
through reproductive futurism. This is the idea that the choices we make about
the future are motivated by the health and safety of the next generation.
Whether that is because we want to selfishly secure our own legacy to prove
that our life has meaning, or that we individually are emotionally invested in
the wellbeing of people that we love; on a macro level, many people are not
motivated to better their own lives outside of their progeny. Thus, people are
willing to endure, and capitulate to the system because it is “what is
required.”<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center; text-indent: 0.5in;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/3njZSDjW7Q4" width="320" youtube-src-id="3njZSDjW7Q4"></iframe></div><br /><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">In <i>Ikiru, </i>Watanabe
is finally able to break free from this magnificent monotonous malaise, when he
realizes that the joy he was missing was a sense of fulfilment; not at the
bottom of a bottle, or inspired by youth, but through service. When the
community comes to his office again and demand a park be created, Watanabe spends
the last four months of his life navigating the community through the red tape
and roadblocks of local government. Throwing caution, self-respect, and humility
out the window to just get one thing accomplished. A sacrifice, but rather for
himself, Watanabe’s sacrifice was for other people. Kurosawa’s point? Perhaps,
if the system is going to grind us all down, we might as well throw ourselves
into it for the betterment of others, and not just those with whom we are
emotionally invested. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Kurosawa encapsulates and
crystalizes the nature of bureaucracy in the reactions and interactions of the
other government employees at Watanabe’s funeral. As Watanabe continues to be
praised for his endeavors, his colleagues in Public Works and other local
government salarymen, try to take credit for the park and the building of the
playground with the common generalization that it was a “team effort”; even to
the point of getting angry, that they too need to be commended. This is a apart
of “The Managerial Demiurge… the societal uneasy interlocking of private and
public hierarchies, and at the bottom, more areas become objects of management
and manipulation.” (Mills 2002: 77). The lack of personhood is such that both
Watanabe’s subordinates, and superiors, can not allow for credit to be
collectively given, and only singularly received. If one is praised, then they
all should be praised.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Mills (2002) explains it
like this:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Management is not a Who
but a series of Theys and even Its…You are a cog and the beltline of the
bureaucratic machinery itself; without you the managerial demiurge could not
be. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Yet, among
middle management, white collar workers, there is a fair amount of “status
panic” in which these salarymen try to justify their existence in a transparent
display of occupational self-protection, and to keep up appearances (Mills 2002,
Veblen 1994). This is especially true in the Japanese culture where honor is an
important personal and cultural identifier, and the social pressure to maintain
at least the thin veneer of respect and dignity is very high.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Later,
when the Salarymen’s hypocrisy is exposed, they are contrite and drunkenly
prostrate themselves in front of Watanabe’s son and the townspeople. They reveal
that they too feel the Weberian “Iron Cage” draining the nuanced life from
their bodies, only leaving behind a tattered husk of routines, norms, and predictable
patterns. For other filmmakers, this would be the moment of revelation, when
the sacrifice of the protagonist leads to greater and longer lasting systemic
change; having these men see the error of their ways and feeling the same
emptiness as Watanabe, seek to change the system. Kurosawa, however, understands
the routinized nature of bureaucracies and the souls trapped within it. Once
the salarymen leave, it is pointed out that these men will do nothing. They
will go back to the office tomorrow and they will fall back into their old
habits. All the lofty platitudes that they spouted in their self-medicated
manufactured performative grief at the foot of Watanabe’s alter, are as hollow as
they are; too consumed with success and shackled within the bureaucratic prison
to realize that they are a just a living corpse waiting to rot. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/4yvie5-IbvY" width="320" youtube-src-id="4yvie5-IbvY"></iframe></b></div><b><br /></b><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">CONCLUSION <o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Kurosawa being influenced
by western filmmakers and Russian literature (Dostoevsky) it is not surprising
that he understands the bureaucratic social order. Yet, in many other films<i> </i>there
is a hopeful strain that runs through them that is absent here. In </span><a href="http://thesociologistsdojo.blogspot.com/2021/08/the-chambara-films-of-akira-kurosawa.html?m=0"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Seven
Samurai</span></i></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">, even though the Samurai cannot stop the
societal changes leading to the obsolescence of their class status, the
villagers, the lower class, still won and have a future. In </span><a href="http://thesociologistsdojo.blogspot.com/2020/02/the-high-and-low-of-bong-joon-hos.html"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">High
and Low</span></i></a><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">, </span></i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Mr. Gondo still chooses
to go through with the ransom demands even when it is revealed that it was not
his son that was kidnapped. <i>Ikiru </i>is Kurosawa at his bleakest. There
is no true success within a bureaucratic social order; you get consumed by it
and become a charismatically emaciated husk, condemned to drain the life from
the next hopeful person it ensnares. Like Weber, Kurosawa has no solutions
for us. He leaves the audience with a haunting series of images. First, of Takashi
Shimura singing in the snow, and then his friend gazing upon the finished playground
before returning to work…hoping one day “to live.”<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhE-glkSXfWf4q2z_v8FLFzgem7eu4OsgfBpemX1w6PV6JChePOhsgyECe3C-YnycJRd8uNfhm-FT55RHwBWxPliTkxfGnP-g2Tp3TfU815Jk0b287BFXfOcAgtrHca2akJesBGOGjvidBXcB9PlQ-yiwrEQAaFD2GzXVbN-TB8eRC4_Ct4zCXkii4hZA/s1426/fkBLa2W.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1426" data-original-width="1000" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhE-glkSXfWf4q2z_v8FLFzgem7eu4OsgfBpemX1w6PV6JChePOhsgyECe3C-YnycJRd8uNfhm-FT55RHwBWxPliTkxfGnP-g2Tp3TfU815Jk0b287BFXfOcAgtrHca2akJesBGOGjvidBXcB9PlQ-yiwrEQAaFD2GzXVbN-TB8eRC4_Ct4zCXkii4hZA/w280-h400/fkBLa2W.jpg" width="280" /></a></div><br /><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">REFERENCES</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"> <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: .5in; text-indent: -.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Chomsky, Noam and
Marv Waterstone 2021. <i>Consequences of Capitalism: Manufacturing Discontent
and Resistance </i>Chicago: Haymarket Book<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: .5in; text-indent: -.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: .5in; text-indent: -.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Gerth H.H. and C.
Wright Mills 1958. <i>From Max Weber: Essays in Sociology </i>New York: Oxford
University Press <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: .5in; text-indent: -.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: .5in; text-indent: -.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Mills C. Wright
2002. <i>White Collar: The American Middle Classes 50<sup>th</sup> Anniversary
edition </i>New York: Oxford University Press <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: .5in; text-indent: -.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: .5in; text-indent: -.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Richie, Donald 1965.
“To Live” Reprinted in The Criterion Collection edition of <i>Ikiru<o:p></o:p></i></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: .5in; text-indent: -.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: .5in; text-indent: -.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Trevino, A. Javier
2012. <i>The Social Thought of C. Wright Mills </i>Los Angeles: Sage Publishing
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: .5in; text-indent: -.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Veblen, Thorstein 1994.
<i>The Theory of the Leisure Class </i>New York: Penguin Books <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: .5in; text-indent: -.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Weber, Max 2002. <i>The
Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism and Other Writings </i>New York:
Penguin Books <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: .5in; text-indent: -.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: .5in; text-indent: -.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Weber Max 2019. <i>Economy
and Society: A New Translation </i>Massachusetts: Harvard University Press. <i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></i></span></p>
<div style="mso-element: footnote-list;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><br clear="all" />
<hr align="left" size="1" width="33%" />
<!--[endif]-->
<div id="ftn1" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<p class="MsoFootnoteText"><a href="https://d.docs.live.net/bb5a620476910e43/Documents/Sociologists%20Dojo/Death%20and%20Taxes%20The%20Bureaucracy%20of%20Ikiru.docx#_ftnref1" name="_ftn1" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn1;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[1]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a> Is
this the excuses of rich people to not only justify their wealth but
essentially buy their way into heaven? Yes. <o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="ftn2" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<p class="MsoFootnoteText"><a href="https://d.docs.live.net/bb5a620476910e43/Documents/Sociologists%20Dojo/Death%20and%20Taxes%20The%20Bureaucracy%20of%20Ikiru.docx#_ftnref2" name="_ftn2" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn2;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[2]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a> This
concept of sacrifice is also gendered in that women, more so than men are
socialized to sacrifice their own desires for their family. They are the ones
more likely to step away from job as careers when the family is in need. To
sacrifice their own self-care time for others, and be/take on the
responsibility of being the sole proprietor of their family’s emotional labor
needs (especially their spouse). This is because the mechanism of gender socialization
value women more through their bodies and their relationships with others,
rather than their work, or their personalities.<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
</div><br /><p></p>Brian Brutlaghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08099644007940320266noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8714941782515128558.post-58370186138696742152023-02-07T14:17:00.003-08:002023-02-09T14:20:08.009-08:00The Films of Karyn Kusama: The Invitation <p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-Ye3Q2PmGrN0aNRLgoitRhSjdiGCy6K1r3BV-Ooyp4q1jAPz_0q7jPcoXldlbUgPWF2P-yheqbRCs0F3WpebnpKiHJ3YuTRi5uA3gW71_ZRD3qJUefCttXUS11qXzgF6BJ-6WTs7mlIus5t7Qa6SUMyLdK3HiW6gKV04R-24xBdKJjI1iNjxjvlHUQA/s600/9f3ddff55bafb36c2d8017685778294c.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="350" data-original-width="600" height="234" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-Ye3Q2PmGrN0aNRLgoitRhSjdiGCy6K1r3BV-Ooyp4q1jAPz_0q7jPcoXldlbUgPWF2P-yheqbRCs0F3WpebnpKiHJ3YuTRi5uA3gW71_ZRD3qJUefCttXUS11qXzgF6BJ-6WTs7mlIus5t7Qa6SUMyLdK3HiW6gKV04R-24xBdKJjI1iNjxjvlHUQA/w400-h234/9f3ddff55bafb36c2d8017685778294c.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><p style="text-align: center;"><br /></p><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">The fourth film in my
retrospective analysis of the films of Karyn Kusama is the slow burning Hitchcockian
style thriller <i>The Invitation.</i> Released 7 years after </span><a href="http://thesociologistsdojo.blogspot.com/2023/01/the-films-of-karyn-kusama-jennifers-body.html"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">Jennifer’s
Body</span></i></a><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"> </span></i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">with no money or studio
affiliation, this film is a brilliant cinematic portrait of Kusama’s power and
brilliance as a filmmaker, waving a story with multiple characters and misleading
the audience at every turn until its revelatory horrific final shot. Kusama’s
tale of a dinner party with dark intentions is predicated on sociological
concepts of courtesy, following social norms, and the internalized desire to
maintain the broader social order at the literal cost of people’s lives. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This paper examines <i>The Invitation</i> as a
creative boon out of asphyxiation by a corporate industry of the time that is
often devoid of creativity, while also diving deeper into the sociological
relevance of various interaction rituals and the societal power of religion and
belief.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/ZbyUw_2lJ-0" width="320" youtube-src-id="ZbyUw_2lJ-0"></iframe></div><br /><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">PLOT<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Two
years after the sudden and tragic death of their son Ty, Eden (Tammy Blanchard)
invites her Ex-husband Will (Logan Marshall Green), his girlfriend Kira (Emayatzy
Corinealdi), and the rest of their estranged friend group to a dinner party at
Will and Eden’s former home. The friends reconnect and painstakingly move past
initial awkwardness and begin to remember why they were friends in the first
place. But as the night progresses, and new revelations made, that awkwardness slowly
turns into anxiety, then to mistrust, and later to dread. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgErCFalT9mzKwKAipW3lrQI3CMc6f5fo5xwdp4trqfHHhvKkXzoUJqVrIOHzV1J-Lhs8rJ6-oSMlCvFtku46gGSBU_e8VE1DNmrcZyee89KvWQgFD3ZMfFyoPj4ao2IQ9DeQZ66gCd7Jg5ZbTFsCzQ-o8xeHbH3t3GQ1O1gB6ApAte9wVWH4kfijjpWQ/s1200/1_SDvgznPS8-5Otz1FHwglzQ.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="900" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgErCFalT9mzKwKAipW3lrQI3CMc6f5fo5xwdp4trqfHHhvKkXzoUJqVrIOHzV1J-Lhs8rJ6-oSMlCvFtku46gGSBU_e8VE1DNmrcZyee89KvWQgFD3ZMfFyoPj4ao2IQ9DeQZ66gCd7Jg5ZbTFsCzQ-o8xeHbH3t3GQ1O1gB6ApAte9wVWH4kfijjpWQ/s320/1_SDvgznPS8-5Otz1FHwglzQ.jpeg" width="240" /></a></div><br /><o:p><br /></o:p><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">HISTORICAL CONTEXT<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span></span></b><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">Production
<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>After
the initial specious panning of <i>Jennifer’s Body, </i>Kusama came away from
that experience understanding the vacuous emptiness of the Hollywood Studio
system and declared that she would not work on a film where she did not get
final cut, because as she put it: <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;">“I'm a
strong-minded director with a very clear sense of what I want to do, and I just
want to be left alone to do it and I'm not sure the studios are necessarily the
most instructive places for filmmakers to be, except to maybe to learn about
the hard realities of commerce and art intermingling.”<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">Here, Kusama is openly challenging the studio system
and speaks truth to power about the process of corporate controlled studio
filmmaking. She is then rewarded for that mindset with only a single additional
credit for directing between <i>Jennifer’s Body </i>(2009) and <i>The
Invitation</i> (2015). The unbridled sexism is apparent here because there is a
litany of examples of male director making similar demands and they get heralded.
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>This
gender double standard while directing a studio picture is reinforced by the structural
misogynistic glorification of the Patriarchy that is embedded in the everyday
practices of the film industry. The symptomatic common deflection of this
pestilence is that women often do not “pick the right careers” or “they don’t
ask for what they are worth” again putting the onus on women to protect themselves
and navigate through these sexist trip wires. Yet, when they do make all of the
right career choices (</span><a href="https://www.glassdoor.ca/Salaries/los-angeles-film-director-salary-SRCH_IL.0,11_IM508_KO12,25.htm"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">Average
film director in LA</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"> makes $153,773 dollars on the low end)
and they ask for what they are worth (in this case Kusama demanding Final Cut)
they nearly get blacklisted.<a href="https://d.docs.live.net/bb5a620476910e43/Documents/Sociologists%20Dojo/The%20Invitation%20Review%20.docx#_ftn1" name="_ftnref1" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn1;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[1]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a> Granted, working in TV/short
form content is not the death sentence for a director that it once was. Premium
TV and the creation of limited series in recent years has attracted stars, talent,
and rich storytelling into its development. However, it is still not director
focused. The focus and creative vision usually stay with the showrunner, transforming
many of these episodic directors into glorified cat wranglers.<a href="https://d.docs.live.net/bb5a620476910e43/Documents/Sociologists%20Dojo/The%20Invitation%20Review%20.docx#_ftn2" name="_ftnref2" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn2;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[2]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a> <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Kusama being an obvious exception.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">The trade off to Kusama’s
“insolence” for asking for what she is worth, and fighting to have creative
control, meant that her next film, <i>The Invitation, </i>would need to be
independently financed and have a shoestring budget. This led to changes in the
framing and shot composition of each scene. Inspired by Kurosawa’s masterwork
of blocking during the first half of </span><a href="http://thesociologistsdojo.blogspot.com/2020/02/the-high-and-low-of-bong-joon-hos.html"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">High
and Low</span></i></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">, Kusama makes every frame a tapestry;
understanding that with the right placement of actors in a scene you can get a
variety of reactions within a single shot, without the added cost of additional
lighting set ups. Infuriatingly, when the film eventually gets praised for such
feats of ingenuity, often citing the lack of budget for its necessity, with it
comes the glorification of low budget independent film without the acquiescence
that these were also films that were fundamentally unsupported.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Kusama also drew upon was the master of
suspense Alfred Hitchcock. Some may point to suspenseful Hitchcockian classics
like <i>Rear Window, Vertigo, </i>or <i>Psycho </i>as the inspirational force
behind <i>the Invitation</i>’s delicious suspension. But, the clearest homages
between Kusama’s film and Hitchcock’s body of work lies in the 1948 noir
thriller <i>Rope. </i>Both <i>Rope </i>and <i>The Invitation </i>take place in
one location during a dinner party, and each have a sinister undercurrent of
murder running through it. However, the source of the tension that consistently
and methodically builds with each passing moment is inverted between these two
films. In <i>Rope, </i>the audience is a spectator to the crime, just waiting
for it to be uncovered. With <i>The Invitation,</i> we know something sinister
is about to happen, we are just waiting for the inciting incident. What
constructively links each film is the way both Hitchcock and Kusama are
mathematically precise on when the tension needs to be tightened, and when it
needs to be released…usually right before a reveal. Interestingly, in <i>Rope </i>it
is when Rupert (James Stewart) leaves the party in <i>The Invitation </i>it is
when Choi (Karl Yune) arrives…a wonderfully cinematically serendipitous
comparison. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></i></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Politics
<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">At the time of this film’s
development, production and release, the US social and political graces were beginning
to be tested. President Obama was finishing his first term while in production,
and was finishing his second term upon the film’s release. In that time, a
resurgence of racist, misogynistic pro-capitalist crypto fascist began with the
swell of “Tea Party” candidates elected to Congress in 2010. This, and a well-placed
joke at the 2015 correspondence dinner, seeded the way for a Donald Trump Presidency;
all of which had the alluring message to older white voters of a bid time
return. Whether that be the “Tea Party’s” mantra to “take the country back”, or
Trump’s “Make America Great Again” these are all mournful longingly fearful
statements, albeit also irrational.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/a-conversation-with-karyn-kusama/id1533306426?i=1000527947037">In
a recent Podcast Episode</a>, Kusama compares the sense of grief and loss Will
and Eden experience in <i>The Invitation </i>with the motivations of Right-wing
Fascist ideologs stating: “[Continued Support of] The Patriarchy, Late-Stage
Capitalism and Toxic Masculinity are all related by a denial of death.” For
Kusama, what these people are feeling is the grief over the challenging of and
incremental weakening of these systems to the point that they would rather kill
themselves, or see themselves die, rather than feel. Nowhere is this more
apparent to Kusama than the initial governmental response to COVID under Trump
and the continued resistance of some Americans to not do even the bare minimum
in the name of Public Health. These people instead choose denial, and for Kusama,
this is the difference in “the price we pay to feel, versus the price we pay to
not.” <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">In the development and
the execution of <i>The Invitation, </i>Kusama, Hay and Manfredi unintentionally
reveal the cyclical nature of US politics and the similarities between two
political extremes. In the US two party political system there is a tendency to
polarize and alienate the two most widely embraced groups present, and
fundamentally position them as opposites of one another. Not only is this a
manufactured comparison that ultimately serves to better segregate and isolate
individuals from each other thereby reinforcing a false dichotomy resulting in
the developing of “in groups” and “out groups” based upon political ideology,
it also creates dangerous echo chambers of ideological rhetoric that ultimately
keeps us at odds with each other and thwarts social progress. The reality of
these political extremes is then obfuscated by this binary, ignoring the
reality that many of the people on the extreme ends of both parties can agree
on the same interpretation for completely different reasons. Many leftist
socialists and right leaning libertarians agree on the dangers of Government
Surveillance. However, whereas Libertarians object to Government Surveillance
on the grounds of the encroachment on individual personal liberty, leftist
socialists reject Government Surveillance based on the powerful’ s imposition
of their will on the nonpowerful leading to systemic oppression. Same outcome,
different motivations.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">The cyclical nature of
political ideologies is illustrated in <i>The Invitation </i>by the characters of
Eden, David</span> (<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">Michiel Huisman), Pruitt (John Carol Lynch), and Sadie
(Lindsay Burdge). In the film, the organization known as “The Invitation”
bought these four together at a “spiritual retreat” in Mexico. From what we have
explained in the film, and the personalities depicted, these four would not likely
meet, nor interact with each other if not for their shared experience at the
retreat. From the minute they are introduced, Eden and David’s friendship and
intimate closeness with Pruitt and Sadie seems odd and out of place. In fact,
Kusama uses this incongruity as the first subtle building of tension in the
film; hinting that things are not what they seem. Still, it is the
juxtaposition of Eden and Pruitt that mirrors the similarities found at the
edges of political extremes. Eden is looking for answers and solace from the
horrors of the chaotic randomness of the world. Pruitt is looking for solace
and absolution from the horrors of what he has wrought. One person is looking
for an answer to the trauma that has befallen her, the other is looking to justify
the trauma they have inflicted on someone else. Yet, both were attracted to the
teaching and messages of “The invitation”. One to relieve pain, the other to
find forgiveness. Same outcome, different motivations.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMWpKgmAwUPEPsPMLcSt-iPm2x_W7yx0cLGbW0aj8LvKOQ25s0N5kDTR_gDSDapHOHaHKSjm04ZaoeAXboq3y0umE2Ic3Kyl07ZwEKT_n18Ly-34mYllz46ug7umT_iNBNZIr7fIWct63-amAD-11XMtaS9bTFkekbH2LpgMZ5MVmViwxj_f6YRUPCKw/s1200/11095081_0.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="1200" height="166" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMWpKgmAwUPEPsPMLcSt-iPm2x_W7yx0cLGbW0aj8LvKOQ25s0N5kDTR_gDSDapHOHaHKSjm04ZaoeAXboq3y0umE2Ic3Kyl07ZwEKT_n18Ly-34mYllz46ug7umT_iNBNZIr7fIWct63-amAD-11XMtaS9bTFkekbH2LpgMZ5MVmViwxj_f6YRUPCKw/w400-h166/11095081_0.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">SOCIAL ANALYSIS<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">Religion<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"> “You’re in a cult.” This is the first reaction the
revelation that Eden, David, Pruitt, and Sadie are part of “The Invitation.” The
word cult is used as a mechanism of social control to be synonymous with danger
and with a break from reality. Later, when Ben tells Eden that the whole thing
sounds “a little crazy”, she immediately and aggressively slaps him. This
extreme response was predicated on the notion of belief, and its power to
motivate and control. The reaction of Ben and the rest of the friend group is the
social structure (built on a foundation of recognizing only a limited number of
religions) placing the belief system of “The Invitation” outside of the
acceptable beliefs and ritualic practices. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>According
to Durkheim (2001), Much of what we attribute to a religion/religious power or
deity is actually a function of society. We, the people living in society,
build religion through the crafting of the word and stories about gods, whether
they be polytheistic pantheon or a monotheistic all-powerful entity. Even
though it is the stories that attract new believers, <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>gods are nothing without people to believe in
them. Mythology only became so when fewer and fewer people believed in those
stories. A community built around shared beliefs creates a state of collective
effervescence where the emotional connection and solace one finds in religion
is actually because of a group of shared believers. It does not matter what you
believe, (the content) what matters is <b>that </b>you believe and that belief becoming
validated by others through specific rites, rituals and joyous festivals
(Durkheim 2001). The only difference between “The Invitation” and a more
socially acceptable belief system is the amount of people that believe in it,
the collective acceptance to believe, and the integration of those beliefs into
institutions and systems of power.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">“The Invitation” as a
religious cult is nothing new. Kusama even points to many notable cults
throughout history as inspirations (particularly Heaven’s gate, Jonestown, and
the Manson Family). This is because <b><u>anything can become sacred</u></b> and
because that sacredness is based on belief and the emotional confluence of that,
it is very hard to break free from. Yet, this is not brainwashing as many like
to assume. Cults use the same organizational social control mechanisms that
societies have been using through religions for generations. From a
Functionalist perspective, regardless of the content of the belief, both cults
and legitimized religions answer the questions of morality (they give us a
sense of “right and wrong” e.g., the “desires” speech from David) and mortality
(the understanding that if they go through with this murder suicide, they will
free themselves from the pain of living). The valuing of those beliefs is determined
not by their content, but by their integration into society and their link and
access to positions and institutions of Power. The legitimation of Scientology
is a perfect example of this.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center; text-indent: 0.5in;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/ixgd38EZIR0" width="320" youtube-src-id="ixgd38EZIR0"></iframe></div><br /><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">Basics: Agency vs. Structure <o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">When developing the script
and the overall cinematic narrative for <i>The Invitation,</i> Kusama, Hay and Manfredi
were interested in the way that social norms and socialized courtesy dulls our
survival instincts. They were fascinated with the idea that people would openly
put themselves in an increasingly more dangerous position because they do not
want to break the veneer of social group etiquette. Sociologically speaking,
this is by design to maintain a social order through the constant tension
between Agency and Structure <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">In </span><a href="http://thesociologistsdojo.blogspot.com/2022/01/the-sociology-of-matrix-nostalgia.html"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">a
previous essay</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"> I wrote:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;">Agency
is defined as the ability to have free, non-coerced choice. The term may also
be used in conjunction with Autonomy, the ability to make your own decisions
and trajectory of your life. Structure is defined as any relatively stable
pattern of social behavior often coalesced into a series of groups and
institutions for the purposes of governance.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The existence of every society rest along this spectrum between agency
and structure. The more agency the society has, the weaker the cohesive social
order, and the greater focus on the satisfaction of individual desires.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This leads to normlessness, what Emile
Durkheim called “Anomie”.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The more
structure there is within society, the less there is independence, potentially
leading to Totalitarianism. This necessary balancing between agency and
structure (equal or not) is epitomized by Rousseau’s (and later Weber’s) idea
of the Social Contract: the idea that individuals must give up some amount of
personal freedom to enjoy the stability and security that the structure may
provide. How much personal freedom for how much stability is, in a “democratic”
bureaucratic rational system, consistently in flux, as opposed to other systems
with a tighter or more relaxed grasp <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">Kusama plays with this tension expertly allowing the
odd and deviant behavior of the Hosts, and their unknown guests, to be easily rationalized
and explained away. Part of the way the social structure is maintained is
through the internalization of social norms, to the point that we effectively
relinquish control to the systems that we are a part of. We quiet that nagging
voice of danger a lot of the time because we’ve been in other social situations
and by remaining calm and civil, we have survived.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">Impression Management and Interaction
Rituals <o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">Sociologist Erving
Goffman wrote most of his work on the relational interactions with other people,
and the consequences attached to those interactions.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>According to Goffman (1959) everyone engages
in “impression management” through various social interactions we have with
others. We want to control how other people see us, so we put on a performance
to try and “give off” a particular impression we want others to adopt about
us.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Because we are constantly performing
to maintain these impressions, we rely on others to both help us maintain our impressions
and develop larger impressions that one cannot create alone (Goffman 1959). To
maintain the order of this, we develop <b>defensive and protective practices</b>
to both ignore breaks in an individual’s impression and repair our own
impressions. Goffman calls one of these practices, tact; utilized when a
person’s impression falters, or you find yourself an audience for an
impression(s) that you are not supposed to see. For Goffman, we use tact to try
and spackle the edges of our fractured impression or to make our presence known
if we are witnessing impressions that are not for us.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">According to Goffman
(1967), The use of tact is designed to “save face”; face being the “the image
of self-delineated in terms of approved social attributes.” (p 5). Everyone
fears the “loss of face “within a group, so we decide to protect others while
defending our own impressions through agreed upon rules of conduct that
establish obligations and expectations within social situations. While people
are often more resistant to obligations because their constraint, usually put
upon people <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>by an authority, is
perceived as burdensome. However, When an individual becomes involved with the
maintenance of rules, those obligations become expectations. It transforms from
something that they have to do, into something that they must do in order to
retain the image they have cultivated for themselves (Goffman 1967).<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">This process of saving
face and a composed demeanor is ultimately in service to the avoidance of embarrassment
(Goffman 1967). We have been conditioned to the anathematic understanding of
embarrassment, that to even witness an embarrassing situation triggers an
empathetic solidarity, causing people to feel embarrassed on behalf of others
(second hand embarrassment). We avoid and try to hide our embarrassment as part
of the defensive practices of impression management. We sacrifice our identity
for the moment and situation we find ourselves in; “the social structure gains
elasticity, the individual merely loses composure (Goffman 1967:112). <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">Throughout <i>The
Invitation, </i>Kusama deftly deploys Goffman’s ideas. The obligations of Will
and his friends began when they were invited to Eden and David’s home. They
could have easily not shown up, politely declined or “ghosted” and they all
would have been alive to see another day. But once they entered into the house,
they became involved in the maintenance of the rules, and they followed through
the social expectations of a dinner party. Kusama brilliantly divides the film
into thirds, each increasing the deviant behavior and straining social
conventions until the deaths begin. The first third ends with the showing of
the video and talking about “The Invitation”, punctuated with Pruitt’s
admission. The guests experience embarrassment, laugh off the deviant behavior,
while some lean into the hedonism espoused by “The Invitation.” The second
third ends with the voicemail from Choi and the impromptu celebration of a
birthday a week early. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Here, characters
get more suspicious, and emotions begin to run high. However, rationalization
again prevails and most see Will, the father unable to cope and grieve the
death of his son, as the transgressor. The final third releases the tension into
utter violent chaos. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">Kusama, Hay and Manfredi
comment on these sociological conventions in the film during the “desires”
scene. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The members of “The Invitation”
reinforce this neo-bohemian rhetoric of stripping away constraint and
embarrassment. By doing that, cult members believe that people can be free to forgive
themselves and face the truth. This lack of inhibitions is alluring in the context
of a party where, at least at this point in the film, most of the characters
still feel safe. However, we later learn that this rhetoric and the maintenance
of social norms, courtesy, and basic societal conventions, are being weaponized
by their hosts to participate in a grand murder suicide.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOE5QFszcPDVo74knHvJTMP80RvUVPftSGojmtsvsxKIbhxXDVXwCWdBsUl1swnjtQ0805RpPeOTORfFusgmqOw68i0aVX1IurQhQ073ezd4BmfyVX0Hy2bhbrRryFWMo3je0_XcztkAqZpH6K-Sbrp013ykl9_oqAr0Lm_kcOiWQRvmQaLgUx618bBA/s1200/7_sammy.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="800" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOE5QFszcPDVo74knHvJTMP80RvUVPftSGojmtsvsxKIbhxXDVXwCWdBsUl1swnjtQ0805RpPeOTORfFusgmqOw68i0aVX1IurQhQ073ezd4BmfyVX0Hy2bhbrRryFWMo3je0_XcztkAqZpH6K-Sbrp013ykl9_oqAr0Lm_kcOiWQRvmQaLgUx618bBA/w266-h400/7_sammy.jpg" width="266" /></a></div><br /><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">CONCLUSION<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">The Invitation</span></i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">
is a deliciously suspense laden thriller that preys on the social norms and the
acceptable understandings of the general public. While the film lost money at
the box office, its indie word of mouth and successful run on demand and other
streaming platforms makes it one of Kusama’s best known films. This is because Kusama
Hay and Manfredi were able to successfully tap into the everyday anxieties of social
interactions and many people found themselves in similar situations in their
own life; and while they most likely did not end in (attempted) murder, many of
us can related to the discombobulation of the breaking of social norms and the
awkwardly alienating fallout that follows. Hitchcock was known for building a
thriller by having a mundane situation and then adding a twist. <i>The
Invitation </i>is a worthy addition to the efficacy of that formula. <b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></b></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">REFERENCES <o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">Durkheim, Emile 2001. <i>The Elementary Forms of
Religious Life </i>Oxford: Oxford University Press <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">Goffman, Erving 1959. <i>The Presentation of Self in
Everyday Life </i>New York: Anchor Books <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">Goffman, Erving 1967. <i>Interaction Ritual: Essays on
Face-to-Face Behavior </i>New York: Pantheon Books <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<div style="mso-element: footnote-list;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><br clear="all" />
<hr align="left" size="1" width="33%" />
<!--[endif]-->
<div id="ftn1" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<p class="MsoFootnoteText"><a href="https://d.docs.live.net/bb5a620476910e43/Documents/Sociologists%20Dojo/The%20Invitation%20Review%20.docx#_ftnref1" name="_ftn1" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn1;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[1]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
This is what I can only assume happened <a href="https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2022/04/what-killed-karyn-kusamas-dracula-film">between
Kusama and Miramax</a> and the recent fallout of her Dracula themed film
focusing in Mina Harker for which I mourn <o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="ftn2" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<p class="MsoFootnoteText"><a href="https://d.docs.live.net/bb5a620476910e43/Documents/Sociologists%20Dojo/The%20Invitation%20Review%20.docx#_ftnref2" name="_ftn2" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn2;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[2]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a> Understand
that I say this with the full knowledge that as of this writing, I have yet to
see <i>Yellowjackets</i> and that <i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>every Kusama directed piece of short form
content I have seen has been the best direct piece of TV I’ve seen that Year.
Particularly, <i>The Outsider</i> episode titled “The One About the Yiddish
Vampire” <o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
</div><br /><p></p>Brian Brutlaghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08099644007940320266noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8714941782515128558.post-34447799189344962062023-01-01T00:00:00.003-08:002023-01-01T05:28:29.401-08:00The Films of Karyn Kusama: Jennifer's Body <p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxsOv_UZvmQXj7IuJ9Pxqsb7y6cWvkqIM3fgYBcTJcTz5PO2J3PxZsqJa1fNXah04wfTo9_5NS0YDfBwzfYgiD_QwjKzmoIimer4avq-72JQds7X9yV366fB-O7noEv7-2LDD5Oij9SgL9YP8mBU_bk6Jd9v2feWy7aR7Aa15sNnIhjMS5po4h-yX4EA/s600/9f3ddff55bafb36c2d8017685778294c.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="432" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxsOv_UZvmQXj7IuJ9Pxqsb7y6cWvkqIM3fgYBcTJcTz5PO2J3PxZsqJa1fNXah04wfTo9_5NS0YDfBwzfYgiD_QwjKzmoIimer4avq-72JQds7X9yV366fB-O7noEv7-2LDD5Oij9SgL9YP8mBU_bk6Jd9v2feWy7aR7Aa15sNnIhjMS5po4h-yX4EA/w288-h400/9f3ddff55bafb36c2d8017685778294c.jpg" width="288" /></a></div><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"> The third
film in my retrospective on the films of Karyn Kusama is the late blooming
horror classic <i>Jennifer’s Body. </i>Misunderstood, underrepresented and overlooked,
this 2009 film was ahead of its time, and the culture at large. The film
presents gender and sexuality in a way that we’ve barely touched on, outside of
vague indie dramas, in the near 15 years since its release. Even fewer, are the
films that are marketed to mass audiences and open wide as this film did. This
paper is an exploration of the historical revulsion of the film upon its
release, and its reconsideration a decade later, as well as an analysis of the
film’s broadly stroked gendered and sexual themes that become more intricately
detailed upon further and closer examination.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/C8azftM5puI" width="320" youtube-src-id="C8azftM5puI"></iframe></div><br /><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">PLOT<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span></span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">High
School friends Anita and Jennifer have been inseparable since childhood. Jennifer,
the outgoing aggressive bombshell, is the gravitational force in their
relationship, while the diminutive Anita, who goes by the descriptive, albeit narratively
deceptive, “Needy”<a href="https://d.docs.live.net/bb5a620476910e43/Documents/Sociologists%20Dojo/The%20Films%20of%20Karyn%20Kusama%20Jennifers%20Body%20%20.docx#_ftn1" name="_ftnref1" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn1;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[1]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>,
sits comfortably in her orbit. But when Jennifer gets lured away after a bar
fire and improperly sacrificed to Satan for an Emo Glam Rock Band’s desire for
fame and fortune, Anita “Needs” to take care of what remains, a demon succubus,
inside her best friend. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">HISTORICAL CONTEXT<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span></span></b><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">Production
<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Jennifer’s
Body </span></i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">marked the sophomore film for writer/producer Diablo
Cody and their second collaboration with Producer Jason Reitman after their
smash hit, <i>Juno</i>. Cody wanted to both pay homage to, and subvert, a lot
of the Horror tropes of the era by centering the narrative around girls and
their friendships, ultimately turning the genre into a double entendre.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">While not confirmed, Cody
seemed to draw inspiration for Jennifer’s sacrifice from the </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder_of_Elyse_Pahler"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">real-life
murder of Elyse Pahler</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"> who in 1996 was lured from her home
in California and killed as a part of a Satanic ritual; all for the Metal Band <i>Hatred
</i>to be granted “The Craziness and Go Professional”. Once captured, the three
members of the band pleaded “no contest” and are each serving life sentences in
three separate penitentiaries across California. One of these men was denied
Parole in 2021 by Gov. Gavin Newsom, the other two have upcoming parole hirings
in 2023 and 2024 respectively. Feeling a lack of Justice, The Pahler Family
lashed out at the band <i>Slayer, </i>believing that their music and lyrics
promoted murder and violence, which in their mind, led to the death of their
daughter. All civil court cases were dismissed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">The script for <i>Jennifer’s
Body </i>was written in 2006 at the same time as <i>Juno,</i> but because of
the latter’s success, the second script by Diablo Cody was quickly put on the
list of the “most anticipated” unmade scripts of that year. Reitman was
initially set to direct, given his history with Cody, but realizing his vision
wasn’t the right fit, began shopping for directors. Kusama came on in the early
months of 2008, drawn to the project by the script and its overall themes, “a
fairytale gone psycho”, and was present during the additional drafts of the
script that zeroed in and highlighted its feminist messaging. Both Cody and
Kusama were adamant in wanting the story to remain about female friendships and
write these horror roles that [ so rarely] service women. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>While Cody’s popularity assured that this
script would be produced, the reactionary nature of the Hollywood industry,
ultimately guaranteed that the studio, in this case 20<sup>th</sup> Century Fox,
would not understand it. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The studio ignorance of this film festered.
Only seeing through the white male gaze of standard Hollywood pictures, Producers
believed this film to be a riff on the typical sex comedy in the vein of (what
would eventually become) <i>National Lampoon’s </i>trademark in the early 2000’s,
a sort of <i>American Pie </i>with a Succubus. Therefore, they hired an all-male
marketing team who focused their attention on capturing young white men, by
using their promotional budget to sexualize Megan Fox at the center of its
advertising. Billboards, posters, one sheets, and trailer editors all leaned in
on the hyper sexualized image of Megan Fox cultivated by the Studio in order to
get men into the theater with the promise of her naked body. According to
Kusama, this crack marketing team even had the deplorable idea that Fox should
do live chats for the film on Amateur Porn sites. This failure at the marketing
ultimately poisoned the public well of goodwill for the film. Thus, audiences
and critics at the time did not know exactly what the film was, nor what it was
trying to say; their expectations crashing upon the rocky shores of the film’s
actual messages. This incongruity left many (typically male) audience members
and critics feeling duped, leading to them unfairly criticizing the film, because
of its marketing tactics.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><i>Reception
<o:p></o:p></i></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The </span><a href="https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/jennifers_body/reviews"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">initial
reviews</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"> of the film which were mixed but leaning towards
terrible, typically cited the script and direction as being at fault rather
than the performances. Yet, due to the mismanaged marketing, praise for the
performances rarely went beyond the physical, with one review stating: “Forget
Jennifer’s Body. This is all about Megan’s Body”. Several other reviews
lambasted the film for its “lack of fun” or stated that it was a film that was
“pretty to look at” but “without substance.” or calling the directing
amateurish and the writing a “disappointment from an Oscar winner” (meaning
Cody). Many critics felt that Cody was “trying too hard” to match her success
with <i>Juno </i>while others thought the film was too sexual, or conversely, not
sexual enough (which might have been code for not enough nudity, meaning they
didn’t get to see Megan Fox naked). While others just saw the finished product
as trashy B movie schlock. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">It is difficult to truss
out whether these first negative reviews, were conceivably led a stray by the
piss poor marketing team, or if it’s a representation of the cultural subtext
of the patriarchy. Many of these negative reviews (typically, but not all from
men) read like the masculine gatekeeping of a genre. The keyboard warriors and early
internet trolls that believe that a female led and directed film, is by its
very creation, subpar. They are then inclined, nay, self-empowered, emboldened,
even entitled, to have <b>their </b>voice be heard and to “put these women in
their place.” These outbursts being tantamount to these men throwing a toddler’s
tantrum for the film not being what they wanted or expected. These negative
reviews shaped a generation’s opinion on this film. For a decade, anytime
anyone would suggest watching it, the inevitable refrain would be: “Oh I heard
its bad, isn’t it bad?” Fortunately, vindication and the valorization of <i>Jennifer’s
Body </i>eventually came with the shifting of gender politics in the US.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/bTEudxpPkgY" width="320" youtube-src-id="bTEudxpPkgY"></iframe></div><br /><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="http://thesociologistsdojo.blogspot.com/2020/02/feminist-fox-force-five-birds-of-prey.html"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">The
Emancipation of one Jennifer Check</span></i></a><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"> </span></i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Since
the film’s release in 2009, US audiences have seen the embolization of a white
supremacist misogyny, ever present in our history and culture, congeal, and
metastasize into the living tumor that is Donald Trump. His successful run for
the presidency against Hillary Clinton set off a wave of anti-immigrant, misogynistic
and racist behavior and its resistance. Many people were speaking up to this
tyranny that wouldn’t before; whether that be because they have finally had
enough or because Trump forced them to be introspective<a href="https://d.docs.live.net/bb5a620476910e43/Documents/Sociologists%20Dojo/The%20Films%20of%20Karyn%20Kusama%20Jennifers%20Body%20%20.docx#_ftn2" name="_ftnref2" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn2;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[2]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a> is irrelevant. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Regardless, people were beginning to have
conversations about structural forms of systemic racism and sexism that were
outside of academia. Yet, these conversations needed a catalytic spark to create
change. History would provide two events; the response to which would further a
new anti-sexism movement called </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MeToo_movement"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">#MeToo</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">.
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The phrase “MeToo” was coined in 2005 by
Tarana Burke, to illustrate the frequency and cultural ubiquity of sexual
assault and violence against women. Burke defined the tactic that would
eventually become </span><a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-intersect/wp/2017/10/19/the-woman-behind-me-too-knew-the-power-of-the-phrase-when-she-created-it-10-years-ago/"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">the
movement’s mission statement</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;">“to empower sexually assaulted
people (especially young and vulnerable women of color) through empathy,
solidarity, and strength in numbers, by visibly demonstrating how many have
experienced sexual assault and harassment, especially in the workplace.”<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">While the movement started in 2005 it was not until 12
years later that it would gain both traction and a voice. The first event that initiated
the Me-Too movement was the New York Times expose </span><a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-44257202"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">on
the sex crimes of Miramax producer Harvey Weinstein</span></a><span class="MsoHyperlink"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">,</span></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"> receiving over 100
different accusations including many from the Hollywood elite. The #MeToo began
trending on social media, giving many who were unaware (mostly men) their first
glimpse at the enormity of the problem of sexual assault and sexual violence;
ultimately contributing to Weinstein’s unlikely arrest and surprising conviction.
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">The second event that solidified
the movement was the appointment of an anthropomorphized can of Papts Blue
Ribbon to the Supreme Court through Brett Kavanaugh; regardless of Christine Blasey
Ford’s testimony about being allegedly assaulted by Kavanaugh while in college.
Veterans of the fight against sexism and the newly “woke” watched as the systemic
patriarchy rallied around Kavanaugh and protected him and his reputation with
all of the power at their disposal. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span></span><a href="https://www.vox.com/culture/2018/10/31/18037996/jennifers-body-flop-cult-classic-feminist-horror"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">According
to Constance Grady</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"> (2018) it is among the backdrop of the
#MeToo Movement that <i>Jennifer’s Body </i>gets its reconsideration and recompence.
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“</span><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;">In a post-#MeToo world, the
implications of this storyline look uncomfortably familiar. It’s the story of a
group of powerful men sacrificing a girl’s body on the altar of their own
professional advancement — and it’s also the story of them using her torment as
a bonding activity.</span></i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Several
feminist and gender scholars have discussed at length the way that the
violation of women by men is used as a mechanism for male group cohesion
(Sanday 1984, Kimmel 2008). The members of Low Shoulder, quip, joke and sing
just before murdering Jennifer. Not only is this a way to decompress the
situation from its immensity, allowing them to either kill her or be complacent
to it, but their laughter illustrates more broadly the way that a lot of men in
their friendship circles hide from dangerous or uncomfortable situations. They
believe that if they can laugh about a situation then the gravity of what they
have done is dissipated (Orenstein 2020). <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">In the Me-Too era, <i>Jennifer’s
Body</i> can also be framed as a rape revenge fantasy, a reclamation of a
woman’s body after an assault. Living in the Rape Culture which defines
sexuality as violent and minimizes sexual assault by gaslighting women into silence,
how many assault stories end like Jennifer’s: bloodied, near catatonic, and
looking for comfort in the presence and safety of a best friend? What the public
has learned is that the story of what happens to Jennifer’s body, could have
happened to anybody. To that end, the only criticism I have of how this film
handles the assault is that it reinforces the tired trope that violence (typically
sexual violence) is the catalyst for Jennifer becoming powerful. Regardless of
what she eventually does with that power, it still has its origin in male
violence against her, which she then turns on others.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">In 2023, Jennifer’s
story, or at least the beginnings of it, are all too familiar. This reframing transforms
the film from the marketed sex fantasy for men, to a revenge fantasy for women
and the importance, and complexity of female friendships. The broader (male)
society can now look at the film and rather than be distracted by the “male
gazey hotness of Megan Fox” put forth by the marketing, they can recognize the
allegorical gender messages the film always portended but was obfuscated by the
patriarchal and misogynistic industry standards of Hollywood. Many terribly
sexist films have been tacitly accepted through the socio-cultural hand waving
of “it was a product of the times.” The speech being used as a shield against any
intricate investigation through a more modern/less forgiving lens. Yet, films
like <i>Jennifer’s Body</i> become richer within the present context. While the
cynically glib part of me wants to flippantly exclaim that “the world had to
get bad enough in order to appreciate the film” But part of the point of the
#MeToo Movement is that it was always like this, we’ve now decided to see it…for
a while. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/HzvdDqoirKQ" width="320" youtube-src-id="HzvdDqoirKQ"></iframe></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span></div><o:p></o:p><p></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">“You’re
Killing people.” “No, I’m killing Boys.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">SOCIAL ANALYSIS<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">The social analysis of Cody
and Kusama’s <i>Jennifer’s Body </i>developed in part along the same timeline
as the film’s reclamation. While there have always been supporters, the film
surviving on its cult status, the revivification of the love story between
Anita and Jennifer in the public discourse began with a Feminist theoretical
reading of the film. Through this lens, <i>Jennifer’s Body </i>becomes a
subversive and Feminist treatise on female social expectations, anger, and friendships,
while providing a space for the exploration of bisexuality, something that is still
radical today. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">Upending The Patriarchal
Power of men <o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">Part of the amenable
power of <i>Jennifer’s Body </i>is in its ability to shine a lens on the gendered
expectations and the fragile nature of masculinity within the patriarchy. To
say masculinity is fragile means that the veneer of manhood is easily broken because
the acceptable criterion for masculinity is so narrow and specific, often
surrounding violence, being tough, numerous sexual conquests, as well as protection,
provision, and alcohol consumption, that a person’s masculine presentation can
be obliterated with a simple question or a small behavioral slip. Say the
“wrong” thing, order the “wrong” drink, where the “wrong” clothes and you leave
yourself open to ridicule. Because the tenuous nature of masculinity is known,
masculinity needs to be reaffirmed/solidified in (nearly) every social
situation. <i>Jennifer’s Body </i>highlights the fact that boys and men are not
the only ones that learn these masculine rules, girls do too and use them to
glean power (In Jennifer’s case, their lifeforce) from them. Yet, because she
is working within the confines of already established gender norms, exploiting
them, rather than breaking them, she goes undetected. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></i>In
the film, although Jennifer is always the last person to be seen with the victims,
she is never suspected. The tacit implication being that it is unthinkable that
a girl/woman could be the killer, especially given the horrifically gory cannibalistic
nature of the crimes. This gendered invisibility allows her to hunt without
interruption. Part of Jennifer’s stalking process is playing on the socially
constructed gender norms that police both men and women’s bodies. These boys
willfully go with Jennifer, or are lured by her, to secluded locations so that
she can feed. They do not fear her, even when the context of the situation
screams danger, because she is a girl. And still, they persist into danger because
of the promise of sex, because of the promise of “Jennifer’s Body.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></b>The
scene that clearly articulates this exploitation of fragile Masculinity is when
Colin (Kyle Gallner) is driving to a supposed “date” with Jennifer. As he is
driving, he notices that the streets get less populated, homes get darker, and
eventually everything looks abandoned. As he approaches the house where he is
supposed to meet Jennifer, he knows that at the very least, this seems like a
prank (and at worse he is in danger). Yet, he continues into the house because
of the allure of uncertainty, the possibility of Jennifer, and the masculine
gender police of his fellow men, that will mercilessly ridicule him for leaving.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Jennifer weaponizes fragile masculinity and
she wields it with perfect precision. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">The filmmaking intention of
scenes like the one above is to upend the trope of women dying in horror movies.
While the film is successful, to that end, it also goes further and makes all
the male characters utterly faceless and disposable, only identified by their particular
aesthetic (jackets, piercings, hairstyles etc.) much like female gendered
tropes in traditional horror movies. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
subversive thing about <i>Jennifer’s Body</i> is that the boys and men in this
film are one-dimensional mechanisms by which the relationship between Jennifer
and “Needy” play out; they are a function by which the relational dynamics of the
principal characters are explored.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3gmhpXWXM9785Oo8jPe7oXXNxQMaJXwLSJmd9rz6_Q9aN9_aQxkzfaHzkIVwkzM6lc6m_CulGG40OL33PQrhWClKeEbfRD90EdkrMrbX-b9ySJB17e5FIn9SQrWaYKtrcTbPFuNYY_6yLv0n3WoGxg-wWmok3GKY-TftjjrB-cVdO6TS9p_geYBYKAg/s498/anderson-manufacturing-ar-open-stripped-lower-punisher-black-receiver-1620826-2.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="280" data-original-width="498" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3gmhpXWXM9785Oo8jPe7oXXNxQMaJXwLSJmd9rz6_Q9aN9_aQxkzfaHzkIVwkzM6lc6m_CulGG40OL33PQrhWClKeEbfRD90EdkrMrbX-b9ySJB17e5FIn9SQrWaYKtrcTbPFuNYY_6yLv0n3WoGxg-wWmok3GKY-TftjjrB-cVdO6TS9p_geYBYKAg/w400-h225/anderson-manufacturing-ar-open-stripped-lower-punisher-black-receiver-1620826-2.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><p></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">“Do
You have a Tampon? I thought you might be plugging.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">“Needy” and Jennifer:
Best Frenemies Forever <b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></b></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At first glance, and in the opening scene, Jennifer
and “Needy” are supposed to embody a gaggle of female friendship tropes.
Jennifer is “the hot girl” and Anita is “the nerdy best friend”; each
identified with specific hairstyles, clothing, and make-up. The filmmakers even
go so far as to resurrect the 90’s trope of making an attractive girl seem ugly
by putting Amanda Seyfried behind a pair of glasses and tying her hair back.
This is even called out early in the film after Jennifer tells “Needy” to “Wear
something cute.” “Needy” understands exactly what that means. Her proceeding
explanation is so razor thin specific that she only needs to try on a few
outfits/ combinations that fit the criteria.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">Woven into the character
tropes of “Needy” and Jennifer is an exploration of female relational
aggression (Simmons 2002). Because direct aggression is often coded as
masculine, women have been socialized to express their anger in subtle indirect
ways. This keeps them from seeming overtly hostile, and maintaining a “good
girl” image, and therefore not sanctioned. This anger manifests through the
weaponizing of relationships and using the practices of group exclusion, rumor
spreading, and name calling (Simmons 2002).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>A lot of the aggression that “Needy” and Jennifer feel for each other is
expressed through their interactions with other people. Jennifer expertly pits
“Needy” against others (mostly Chip) in order to make “Needy” choose Jennifer;
effectively sabotaging her other relationships so that they only belong to each
other. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><br /></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/tIsuYBO5iQM" width="320" youtube-src-id="tIsuYBO5iQM"></iframe></div><br /> <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span></span></b><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">Jennifer
and “Needy’s” Bisexual Journey <o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span></span></i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">Jennifer
and Anita’s love story begins in a sandbox when they were children (Sandbox
love never dies). Throughout the film, that bond is tweaked and stretched the
way a lot of young love develops, through flirtation and experimentation. Jennifer
and “Needy” are shown engaging in playful, semi aggressive shoving early in the
film which can often be a precursor to a sexual encounter. Moreover, when
Jennifer shows up in “Needy’s” bed in a t-shirt, underwear, and leggings, Jennifer
mentions that “[She] found her way back to [Needy]” and passively mentions that
they used to play “boyfriend and girlfriend”. In these moments, their love,
desire, and passion for each other is palpable; especially for “Needy”. For
Jennifer, because she is always sexually confident, it is in her quiet caring,
and unwillingness to harm “Needy”, that shows her tenderness and love. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>While these ideas were originally assumed by
critics to be solely for and about the heterosexual male audience, creating
titillation for the male gaze, what Jennifer and “Needy” display here is a
clear presentation of Adrianne Rich’s “Lesbian Existence” <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">In a </span><a href="http://thesociologistsdojo.blogspot.com/2018/12/the-feminism-of-suspiria-terrifies.html"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">previous
essay</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"> I provided an articulation of Rich’s main point and
context that is valid in Understanding the Sexual Politics of <i>Jennifer’s
Body </i><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 107%;">“Lesbian existence comprises both the breaking of a
taboo and the rejection of a compulsory way of life. It is also a direct or
indirect attack on male right of access to women. But it is more than these,
although we may first begin to perceive it as a form of nay-saying to
patriarchy, an act of resistance. It has of course included role playing,
self-hatred, breakdown, alcoholism, suicide, and intrawoman violence; we
romanticize at our peril what it means to love and act against the grain, and
under heavy penalties; and lesbian existence has been lived (unlike, say,
Jewish or Catholic existence) without access to any knowledge of a tradition, a
continuity, a social underpinning. The destruction of records and memorabilia
and letters documenting the realities of lesbian existence must be taken very
seriously as a means of keeping heterosexuality compulsory for women, since
what has been kept from our knowledge is joy, sensuality, courage, and
community, as well as guilt, self-betrayal, and pain”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 107%;">As the term "lesbian" has been held to
limiting, clinical associations in its patriarchal definition, female
friendship and comradeship have been set apart from the erotic, thus limiting
the erotic itself. But as we deepen and broaden the range of what we define as
lesbian existence, as we delineate a lesbian continuum, we begin to discover
the erotic in female terms: as that which is unconfined to any single part of
the body or solely to the body itself, as an energy not only diffuse but, as
Audre Lorde has described it, omnipresent in "the sharing of joy, whether
physical, emotional, psychic," and in the sharing of work; as the
empowering joy which "makes us less willing to accept powerlessness, or
those other supplied states of being which are not native to me, such as
resignation, despair, self-effacement, depression, self-denial[7]<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">Rich identifies in this stitched together passage, (as
in the article as a whole) that in a patriarchal system women are taught to see
other women as a source of contention and competition for male attention (Thus
making heterosexuality compulsory through socialized behaviors, reinforced by
rewards from social structural institutions (Marriage, family, Military economy
etc.)), and denying the reality of the power women have among and with each
other by placing undue emphasis on the type and nature of a relationship rather
than what that relationship provides for the individuals involved. Thus, women
are socially trained through compulsory heterosexuality and patriarchal
oppression that the most important relationships that they have are with men,
and that all other relationships are secondary within this structure.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>We
see this play out in <i>Jennifer’s Body</i> in the way that “Needy” only
engages in sexual contact with her boyfriend, Chip, because she feels
threatened by Jennifer (contention and competition for male attention) “Needy”
never initiates romantic or sexual contact with him that isn’t motivated by
Jennifer’s presence or her mentioning. Consistent to that point, Jennifer’s
pursuit of Chip is in service of affecting her relationship with “Needy” <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">Additionally, Amanda Seyfried
and Johnny Simmons (“Needy” and Chip respectively) have nonexistent on-screen
chemistry. When Chip is first introduced in “Needy’s” room, in the context of
the scene, the audience could just as easily infer that Chip is her brother rather
than her boyfriend. This is solidified when you juxtapose “Needy’s”
participation in her sexual interactions with both Chip and Jennifer. With
Chip, “Needy” is in the passive receiving missionary position with little to no
eye contact with her partner (to which Chip makes no notice or care for). <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Instead, it is clear in the context of the
scene that she is thinking about/linked with Jennifer. Conversely, later in the
film, after Jennifer initiates their kiss, it is “Needy” that becomes desirably
aggressive towards Jennifer, overcome with a passionate hunger neither she, nor
the audience, have seen from her before.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">In the end, the
confluence of Jennifer and “Needy’s” relationship is a near perfect
distillation of Rich’s argument for the power of “The Lesbian existence”. They
do not define themselves by the patriarchal definition of lesbian, but instead define
the erotic in feminine terms, thereby allowing for the creation of a “lesbian
continuum” which includes their Bisexuality. Carmen Maria Machado (2022) reinforces
this in the way that they </span><a href="https://www.autostraddle.com/in-queer-horror-anthology-it-came-from-the-closet-carmen-maria-machado-considers-jennifers-body/"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">deconstruct
the final confrontation between Jennifer and “Needy</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">”:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">When Needy eventually
kills Jennifer, she does it facing her, straddling her; this is how Jennifer’s
mother finds them, compromised in Jennifer’s canopy bed.</span></i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">The scene is shot less like a death scene and more
like teens being caught in a romantic entanglement. The culmination of the
fight has the subtext of mild sex play, and when the final blow is struck, it
plays out like a sexual climax rather than a death. This seems intentional considering
that orgasms have been historically referred to as “the little death” and acts
as a satisfying narrative metaphor for the pinnacle of their relationship. To
further this point, the reaction of Jennifer’s mother is first one of surprise
in seeing “Needy” intimately atop her daughter, and her reaction to Jennifer’s (dead)
body is one of sorrowful disappointment rather than anger which is also
consistent in many “coming out” stories.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Machado
(2022) </span><a href="https://www.huffpost.com/entry/jennifers-body-carmen-maria-machado-this-made-me_n_62a785d3e4b06594c1cc9a6a"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">goes
on to identify the Bisexual diversity</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"> through “Needy” and
Jennifer’s characters, believing that if Jennifer were not to be invaded by
Satan, that she would have turned out to be a bisexual that is primarily lesbian
in practice and “Needy” as a bisexual that also consistently dates men. While I
believe there is just as much evidence for the opposite given “Needy’s” desert
of chemistry with her Gaslighting jackass of a boyfriend; it’s important to
understand that stories of sexuality, actual, non-romanticized versions are
complicated and messy especially around the subject of sexual Identity…and
“such little grace is given to the perfect messiness of desire.” (Machado
2022:3)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Thus, the bisexual queerness of
Jennifer and “Needy’s” love story is complex and multifaceted; set in direct
opposition to the common bisexual stories we are subjected to in our
“post-modern” culture. The bisexual identity is less accepted and vilified on
both sides of the sexuality binary, with many people (on both sides) believing
that the bisexuality identity is a layover rather than a destination. This is
further complicated by the way the heteronormative structure allows for “spaces
of experimentation” usually college, where fluid sexual identities are more
accepted. Granted, many of these spaces were created still under the male gaze
and women in sexual congress with other women has been commodified by
heterosexual men for their own pleasure. But regardless of intention and
motivation, women are allowed to sexually experiment more openly in these
spaces and that has the potential to allow for greater sexual diversity beyond
the binary. Therefore, we need more complex messy stories like Jennifer and
Needy’s because not everything is blissfully explicit and wonderfully clean. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">Machado (2022) sums this up nicely <a href="https://www.huffpost.com/entry/jennifers-body-carmen-maria-machado-this-made-me_n_62a785d3e4b06594c1cc9a6a">in
a recent interview</a>:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;">People want queer representation to
be perfect, and it doesn’t have to be perfect — and also, people have different
ideas about what makes something perfect. And there is a deliciousness in
subtext and uncertainty…</span></i> <i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;">But
also, the standards are so high. Subtext is really fun! I feel like a lot of
younger people are like, “If it’s not explicit, it’s not worth it.” And I’m
like, “Eat your vegetables!”<o:p></o:p></span></i></p><p class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;"><o:p> </o:p></span></i></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7VmbUd5UUVcXGHYfhRHuc-BUNY9-EwYay3kNJocJOwRWuprltfIQWc_ELF-wmyQepwM7DoRKQmy3FN76cQUSngcgKv2lofDMtdpj5ItfxE4QV0fuM7VKTlO9-tWGCGVAB8oqKhCFcotxcXeNsyL9-bgEQsoOcrdDujHk98orp0mGO28Sj5dTRC_UFwg/s864/11095081_0.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="864" data-original-width="576" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7VmbUd5UUVcXGHYfhRHuc-BUNY9-EwYay3kNJocJOwRWuprltfIQWc_ELF-wmyQepwM7DoRKQmy3FN76cQUSngcgKv2lofDMtdpj5ItfxE4QV0fuM7VKTlO9-tWGCGVAB8oqKhCFcotxcXeNsyL9-bgEQsoOcrdDujHk98orp0mGO28Sj5dTRC_UFwg/w266-h400/11095081_0.jpg" width="266" /></a></i></div><i><br /></i><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">CONCLUSION<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">Jennifer’s Body </span></i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">is
a wonderfully schlocky B movie horror feminist cult classic. It was undercut by
the marketing team and sold to the group that would hate it the most; under the
guise that the objectification of Megan Fox would continue in the service of the
white male gaze. Instead, what many of these men received was a understanding
of their minimal importance in the lives of girls and women when compared to
the complexity of female friendships. Upset, they decided to lash out at the
film for making them face this realization rather than be introspective about
their relationships and how they treat women. <a href="https://variety.com/2022/film/news/ana-de-armas-yesterday-false-advertising-1235467419/">In
a recent court ruling</a>, the US courts have determined that individuals can
sue production companies over the validity of their movie trailers. Meaning
that if something that is presented as significant in the trailers does not
make it into the final film, that could be grounds for a lawsuit. If this was precedence
in 2009, how quickly does anyone think these butthurt, dude-bros. would sue the
studio for not being this films target audience, feeling a sense of entitlement
to ogle at Megan Fox’s fully nude body. One of the key aspects of denial is
deflection. These men do not want to recognize that the power of “Jennifer’s
Body” has nothing to do with them, and that irrelevance is the harshest weapon
against the misogynistic patriarchy.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">REFERENCES <o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: 0.5in; text-indent: -0.5in;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt;">Grady, Constance (2018) <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“How Jennifer’s Body went from a flop in 2009
to a feminist cult classic today The critical reevaluation of Jennifer’s Body,
explained” Retrieved at <a href="https://www.vox.com/culture/2018/10/31/18037996/jennifers-body-flop-cult-classic-feminist-horror">https://www.vox.com/culture/2018/10/31/18037996/jennifers-body-flop-cult-classic-feminist-horror</a>
Retrieved on 12/30/2022<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: 0.5in; text-indent: -0.5in;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: 0.5in; text-indent: -0.5in;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt;">Kimmel, Micheal (2008) <i>Guyland: The
perilous world where boys become men </i>New York: Harper Collins<i> <o:p></o:p></i></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: 0.5in; text-indent: -0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: 0.5in; text-indent: -0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt;">Machado, Carmen
Maria (2022) “ Both Ways” In <i>It Came From The Closet: Queer Reflections on
Horror </i>Retrieved at <a href="https://www.autostraddle.com/in-queer-horror-anthology-it-came-from-the-closet-carmen-maria-machado-considers-jennifers-body/">https://www.autostraddle.com/in-queer-horror-anthology-it-came-from-the-closet-carmen-maria-machado-considers-jennifers-body/</a>
Retrieved on 12/30/2022<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: 0.5in; text-indent: -0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: 0.5in; text-indent: -0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt;">Orenstein, Peggy
(2020) <i>Boys and Sex: Young men on Hookups, Love, Porn, Consent, and
Navigating the New Masculinity </i>New York: Harper Collins <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: 0.5in; text-indent: -0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: 0.5in; text-indent: -0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Rich, Adrianne (1980) “Compulsory
Heterosexuality and the Lesbian Existence” In <i>Women, Sexand Sexuality 5(4) </i>Chicago
University Press Retrieved at</span> <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt;"><a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/3173834">https://www.jstor.org/stable/3173834</a>
retrieved on 12/22/22. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: 0.5in; text-indent: -0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: 0.5in; text-indent: -0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Sanday,
Peggy Reeves (1984). Fraternity Gang Rape New York: New York University Press. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">Simmons, Rachel K. (2002) <i>Odd Girl Out: The hidden
Culture of Aggression in Girls </i>New York: Harcourt <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<div style="mso-element: footnote-list;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><br clear="all" />
<hr align="left" size="1" width="33%" />
<!--[endif]-->
<div id="ftn1" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<p class="MsoFootnoteText"><a href="https://d.docs.live.net/bb5a620476910e43/Documents/Sociologists%20Dojo/The%20Films%20of%20Karyn%20Kusama%20Jennifers%20Body%20%20.docx#_ftnref1" name="_ftn1" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn1;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[1]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
After my rewatch of this film, I am convinced that the nickname of “Needy” was
something that Jennifer came up with (a constant subtle jab) and Anita accepted
it to maintain a relationship with Jennifer <o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="ftn2" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<p class="MsoFootnoteText"><a href="https://d.docs.live.net/bb5a620476910e43/Documents/Sociologists%20Dojo/The%20Films%20of%20Karyn%20Kusama%20Jennifers%20Body%20%20.docx#_ftnref2" name="_ftn2" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn2;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[2]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a> It
is important to keep in mind that during this many White men who openly and vocally
came out against Donald Trump did so under the guise of using Trump’s openly
inflammatory and blatantly discriminatory statements to distance themselves
from their own levels of racism and sexism. Because compared to Trump, their
level of Misogyny seems quaint. May people justifying their actions by saying
“At least I am not <b>that </b>bad” <o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
</div><br /><p></p>Brian Brutlaghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08099644007940320266noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8714941782515128558.post-75856274310526006522022-12-04T14:57:00.000-08:002022-12-04T14:57:24.297-08:00The Dojo's Top Ten Films that Encapsulate 2022 <p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdstBmNlrD0nFWaaknd7XGOS0YqC0xZnCiqvE9awvWB9o5gPbK0XZ_tBbav8jfFm8lq3TzSGOY0vIi5oC2Qbd_yJQaEYzCF2duDa2VNq41bLIkWT_-RtLHkpKr83nUJy-DC3m1xPPsG6WPVMIsVAr69PvMY7X5ht430Y0wOKBUU8X6ATuTPAb6c_IDgw/s301/20130113-141718.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="167" data-original-width="301" height="223" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdstBmNlrD0nFWaaknd7XGOS0YqC0xZnCiqvE9awvWB9o5gPbK0XZ_tBbav8jfFm8lq3TzSGOY0vIi5oC2Qbd_yJQaEYzCF2duDa2VNq41bLIkWT_-RtLHkpKr83nUJy-DC3m1xPPsG6WPVMIsVAr69PvMY7X5ht430Y0wOKBUU8X6ATuTPAb6c_IDgw/w400-h223/20130113-141718.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><p style="text-align: center;"><br /></p><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">INTRODUCTION<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>As
another year ends, it is time for The Sociologist’s Dojo to rattle off the top
ten Sociological films of the year. </span><a href="http://thesociologistsdojo.blogspot.com/search/label/Top%20Ten%20Films"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">As
with the last two years</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">, I’ve decided to once again, give
readers a list of 10 events of the year that can be encapsulated in film. Again,
this is not an exhaustive list of events, nor even the ones that are “The Most
Sociological.” <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Instead, this is to
provide an accounting of some of the noteworthy happenings of 2022 and the
films that epitomize their essence; either directly or tangentially. With each
event, I will provide a brief explanation, followed by how the film(s) relate
to each incident. This list is obviously limited by personal bias, the films I
have seen, and my own specialties in Sociology. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>2022
saw a lot of violence and death, whether by assassination, old age, war, or
mass murder. There was also a rise of new plagues, economic destabilization,
inept police, even more inept billionaires, the sustained assault of inflation,
and the elimination of federal protections on women’s bodies. It has been a
heck of a year, and upon this yearly retrospective, may this curated list provide
thought provoking pause and wry/gallous humor simultaneously. Watch these films
if you haven’t already, and if you are feeling nostalgic for 2022, watch these
films in this curated order with the context provided. Enjoy!<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a name="_Hlk120957065"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 24.0pt; line-height: 107%;">10)</span></a><span style="mso-bookmark: _Hlk120957065;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: _Hlk120957065;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 24.0pt; line-height: 107%;">James
Webb Telescope:</span></b></span><span style="mso-bookmark: _Hlk120957065;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 24.0pt; line-height: 107%;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 24.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Triple
Feature: </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0118884/"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 24.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Contact</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 24.0pt; line-height: 107%;">
(1997)</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 24.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Q399v-pMG30" width="320" youtube-src-id="Q399v-pMG30"></iframe></div><br /><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1454468/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 24.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Gravity</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 24.0pt; line-height: 107%;"> (2013) </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/k0ijEEivCbg" width="320" youtube-src-id="k0ijEEivCbg"></iframe></div><br /><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 24.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 24.0pt; line-height: 107%;">and </span><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0816692/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 24.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Interstellar</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 24.0pt; line-height: 107%;">
(2014)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/2LqzF5WauAw" width="320" youtube-src-id="2LqzF5WauAw"></iframe></div><br /><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Importantly renamed “The
Jelliscope, Welliscope, Space Telescope” by </span><a href="https://www.lizwfaber.com/"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Dr. Liz Faber</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">
in </span><a href="https://directory.libsyn.com/episode/index/show/thesociologistsdojo/id/24117573"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">a
recent episode</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"> of </span><a href="https://directory.libsyn.com/shows/view/id/thesociologistsdojo"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The
Sociologist’s Dojo Podcast </span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">due to James Webb’s </span><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/science/2022/jul/12/james-webb-image-reignites-calls-to-rename-telescope-amid-links-to-lgbt-abuses"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">known
support of anti LGBTQ+ policies</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">, the first images of the
space telescope were widely circulated in 2022. These images gave us a greater
since of our own futility and the vastness of space beyond our borders, while
having the potential to have an equalizing effect on human rights. With such
detailed images, the possibility of making everyone realize how precious life
is, and how fleetingly insignificant humans are in the face of the sheer expanse
of space, was possible. However, like a lot of other events that pass through
social media, it gets experienced and then forgotten. We did not consider the magnitude
of these images before they were shuffled aside to be commodified by placing
them on posters, T-shirts, and other merchandise.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The triple feature of <i>Contact,
Gravity, </i>and <i>Interstellar </i>truly encapsulates the dangers and the grandness
of space itself. Each film looks at the dangers of space in a different way:
from <i>Contact</i>’s relationship with Extraterrestrial life, </span><a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2021/07/30/ufos-exist-might-come-beyond-earth-us-said-will-that-encourage-conspiracy-theorists/"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">which
the government “sort of” confirmed was real in 2020</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">,
to the hazardous work environment of being in Space, with Alfonso Curron’s <i>Gravity,</i>
due to a spectacular amount of space trash that surrounds our planet becoming
so large that </span><a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/science/space/us-getting-serious-space-junk-rcna50473"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">industry
seems to be capitalizing on it. </span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Rounding out the three is Nolan’s <i>Interstellar</i>,
a film I have </span><a href="http://thesociologistsdojo.blogspot.com/2014/11/the-films-of-christopher-nolan.html"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">already
written about</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">. The characters in that film look to the
stars for their own survival without really knowing how they will achieve it.
When you couple this narrative with the images of the space telescope </span><a href="https://www.engadget.com/james-webb-space-telescope-mars-images-205450473.html"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">reinvigorating
talk of going to mars, <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">you
can hopefully see the parallels. Finally, the films in this triple feature are
also known to be “hard science” fiction, that treats space through a plausibly
scientific lens, becoming an important prism of motivation if we continue exploring
space, and possibly leading to space travel. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a name="_Hlk120970302"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 24.0pt; line-height: 107%;">9)</span></a><span style="mso-bookmark: _Hlk120970302;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: _Hlk120970302;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 24.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The
assassination of Shinzo Abe:</span></b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Hlk120970302;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 24.0pt; line-height: 107%;"></span></b></span><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 24.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1560747/?ref_=tttr_tr_tt">The Master</a> </span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 24.0pt; line-height: 107%;">(2012)<b>
<o:p></o:p></b></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 24.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/rzHXrg1CgjQ" width="320" youtube-src-id="rzHXrg1CgjQ"></iframe></b></div><b><br /></b><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #202122; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: 0.5in;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; text-indent: 0.5in;">The assassination of
Japanese Prime Minister, Shinzo Abe in July of 2022 shocked the world, but
quickly moved in and out of the US media cycle. The alleged perpetrator, <span style="background: white; color: #202122;">Tetsuya Yamagami shot Abe because of
Abe’s ties to the Unification Church run by the Reverend Sun Myung Moon, and
its policies of extreme tithing, which caused his mother to go into bankruptcy.
The assassination caused the Japanese government to renounce the Church and
threaten to expel any member of government that did not do the same. The Church is anti-communist and for Korean
unification. It has been supported by the US political right, </span></span><a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/trump-moonies-speech-unifaction-church-b1918750.html" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">with Former President Trump speaking to them in 2021</span></a><span style="background: white; color: #202122; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; text-indent: 0.5in;">.</span></p><p></p><p>
</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="background: white; color: #202122; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">There are many films that I considered to represent this 2022 event.
First, I thought a political angle would be most important. Yet, the more I dug
into the story, the more I realized that the actual story was about cults. To
that end, I could have picked any number of fantastic films about cults: <i>Wild
Country,</i> <i>Martha Marcy Mae Marlene, </i>and <i>The Invitation</i>; the
latter being a part of the Blog’s </span><a href="http://thesociologistsdojo.blogspot.com/search/label/The%20Films%20of%20Karyn%20Kusama"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Films of Karyn Kusama</span></a><span style="background: white; color: #202122; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"> retrospective. I chose <i>The Master</i>, given the similarities with some
of the rhetoric with the Unification Church, the Church of Scientology, and NXIVM
founder Keith Raniere. Scientology founder David Miscavige being one of the
models for Philip Seymour Hoffman’s character. Additionally, the devotion cult followers
feel often leads to a set of behaviors and practices that have a very big wake.
One of those waves can be bankruptcy and the giving up of worldly possessions.
Those that are left behind, can be obviously upset, distraught and angry which
can lead them to extremes. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p>
</p><p class="MsoNormal"><a name="_Hlk121027849"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 24.0pt; line-height: 107%;">8)</span></a><span style="mso-bookmark: _Hlk121027849;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: _Hlk121027849;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 24.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The
Death of Queen Elizabeth II:</span></b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0436697/"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 24.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The Queen</span></b></a><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 24.0pt; line-height: 107%;"> </span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 24pt; line-height: 107%;">(2006)</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 24.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/mqL42sjb96I" width="320" youtube-src-id="mqL42sjb96I"></iframe></b></div><b><br /></b><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">On Sept 8<sup>th</sup>
2022, Queen Elizabeth II died at the age of 96. One of the longest rules in
modern history, the Reign of Queen Elizabeth went platinum, ruling for 70
years. Quiet and a fierce defender of her family’s perception by the public, Queen
Elizabeth was a complexity. She, in her title and parentage, was a part of, and
continued to oversee the maintenance of British colonialism and the segregated class
of the Monarchy’s systemic spirit. Yet not only did she promote gender equality
by being a jeep mechanic in WWII, but she oversaw elements of the decolonization
movement in Africa and Australia. However, little is known how she truly felt
about these matters as Queen Elizabeth usually kept her political and religious
beliefs relatively secret. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The Queen,</span></i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">
featuring Helen Mirren in her Oscar winning role, takes place over the weeks
just after the death of Diana Princess of Wales in 1997. The film places
particular emphasis over Elizabeth’s reaction to the news, and the social and
political fallout of the events afterward. The dramatization takes specific
care and attention to justify the Queen’s reluctance to join the public in the
mourning of Diana, </span><a href="https://www.thenews.com.pk/latest/709025-queen-elizabeth-was-globally-criticized-over-her-initial-response-to-dianas-death"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">a
point for which Queen Elizabeth was harshly criticized. </span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">While
a lot of the humanizing of Elizabeth in <i>The Queen</i> was due to Mirren’s
remarkable transformation and portrayal, the specific emphasis on Elizabeth’s
justification for her reticence to grieve publicly, was steeped in the legacy
of the Royal Family, a historical and cultural norm that she held based in her
generation’s ideals of British privacy, emotional reservation, and stoicism; which,
in both the film and reality, were no longer shared by her subjects, ultimately
pointing to just how out of touch she was with her people. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><br />
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a name="_Hlk121031169"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 24.0pt; line-height: 107%;">7)</span></a><span style="mso-bookmark: _Hlk121031169;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: _Hlk121031169;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 24.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Inflation
Rate Hike</span></b></span><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 24.0pt; line-height: 107%;">:</span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 24.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2752724/">Money For Nothing</a> </span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 24pt; line-height: 107%;">(2013)</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 24.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/odUHtBIoabc" width="320" youtube-src-id="odUHtBIoabc"></iframe></b></div><b><br /> </b><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span></span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">From
the end of 2021- 2022 <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2022/11/10/heres-the-inflation-breakdown-for-october-2022-in-one-chart.html">the
overall costs of goods and services have increased by nearly 8 %.</a> Almost
all goods and services cost more now than it did a few years ago, with energy
and food being the highest increases. Basic staples, like eggs and milk, are up
between 14.5-43% while smart phones are down 22%. Over the last 18 months, the
inflation rate has shot up by over half a percent. This means that middle income
Americans are paying an average additional cost of $445 for the same goods they
purchased last year. The Fed desires to keep inflation at a rate of 2%. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The
Global economy is one of the clearest indicators of the interconnected nature
of all people. What happens in one part of the world, impacts everywhere else.
The increase in energy costs is exacerbated by the Russian invasion of Ukraine
(more on that later). While this is true, the way this cost is distributed, and
whom it impacts the most, is largely out of consumers hands; left at the mercy of
corporations and countries that set their prices to maintain profits, thereby passing
the cost of inflation on to consumers, rather than eat the cost themselves. “That’s
Capitalism!” In many sectors of the food industry, the hike in consumer
products seem to have <a href="https://www.npr.org/2022/06/28/1107185064/inflation-arizona-tea-food-costs-dollar-slice-costco-hotdog-loss-leaders">killed
“the one-dollar deal”</a>. However, one company, Arizona Tea, stands above the
fray and shouts <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2022/10/13/arizona-iced-tea-ceo-vows-to-keep-99-cent-price-tag.html">“We
will hold the line at 99c.”</a>. Yet, as a comic book fan I know these <a href="https://www.comicsbeat.com/the-dc-universe-no-longer-holds-the-line-at-2-99/">declarations
can change pretty quickly</a>. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The
Film <i>Money for Nothing </i>is an intimate look at the workings of the
federal reserve and their ability to set prices. The film takes people through
the decisions and indecisions that led up to the 2008 financial crisis and its
aftermath by which the fed was consumed. This documentary investigates the control
of inflation and the overall mechanisms of the economy that need to be understood
if we are going to try and change it.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a name="_Hlk121033693"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></a><span style="mso-bookmark: _Hlk121033693;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 24.0pt; line-height: 107%;">6)</span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: _Hlk121033693;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: _Hlk121033693;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 24.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Monkey
Pox:</span></b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Hlk121033693;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 24.0pt; line-height: 107%;"></span></b></span><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 24.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2124803/">How to Survive a Plague</a> (2012)<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/haEPLCA_H2Y" width="320" youtube-src-id="haEPLCA_H2Y"></iframe></b></div><b><br /></b><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span></span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Monkey
Pox is a viral disease that is found in animals and can be transmitted to
humans. First found in Monkeys in the Congo was the first cases of the virus
being transmitted to humans in the 1970’s. Spread through bodily fluids or
vigorous skin to skin contact, Monkey pox has become a second pandemic in as
many years.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>While the 2022 Monkey Pox outbreak
was the second to hit the US (the first in 2003), it was the first incidence of
<b>widespread </b>transmission out of Africa. In July 2022, the World Health
Organization declared a public health emergency with 53,000 cases in 75
countries and territories.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The
film <i>How to Survive a Plague </i>chronicles the early days of the AIDS epidemic
and the fight to transform an AIDS diagnosis from a death sentence to a manageable
condition. This film is relevant because of the similarities in the social
response between Monkey Pox and AIDS. Both diseases are used in the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/07/28/nyregion/gay-men-monkeypox-health-crisis.html">scapegoating
of the LGBTQ+ community, particularly gay men</a>, as its source. <b>While this
is false</b>, it is an echo of the violence and bigotry steeped in homophobia
that the community has a long history with (as indicated by this film choice). Because
of this dehumanization in both crises, <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>the
LGBTQ+ community has remained ever vigilant and <a href="https://fenwayhealth.org/wp-content/uploads/TFIR-337_Monkeypox-Fact-Sheet2.pdf">developed
information and practices to protect thems</a>elves, often being <a href="https://rainbowhealth.org/monkeypox/">more informed</a> than local authorities
and other community groups. This is because history taught them that no one will
help save them if they don’t save themselves.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a name="_Hlk121036303"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 24.0pt; line-height: 107%;">5)</span></a><span style="mso-bookmark: _Hlk121036303;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span></span></span><a name="_Hlk121036286"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Hlk121036303;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 24.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Musk
Buys Twitter: </span></b></span></a><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 24.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1480656/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1">Cosmopolis</a> (2012)</span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 24.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><b></b></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/PvYyKTZtUG0" width="320" youtube-src-id="PvYyKTZtUG0"></iframe></b></div><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 24.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></b><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span></span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The
saga of Elon Musk’s takeover of the social media platform Twitter is too long
to go into in its entirety. However, the process ran from April 2022- October
2022, Beginning with Musk’s use of twitter, and criticizing its operation. Musk
decided to buy Twitter because of a false consciousness about free speech on
the platform that he perceives should be a freedom of consequences, (erroneously
believing those are the same thing) in addition to getting more followers and
attention. But when the Twitter board introduced a “poison pill” provision to
prevent a hostile takeover by Musk (so that he couldn’t just dismantle and sell
off the parts of the company to other buyers), Musk tried to get out of the
deal by threatening to walk away. However, when he realized he couldn’t walk
away without severe financial losses, ultimately acquiesced, and completed the
deal. The fallout of Musk buying Twitter is still ongoing. Upon hearing of his
taking control of Twitter both users and advertisers have begun to flee to
other social networks like Mastodon and Hive. Since Musk became CEO, Twitter
has lost <a href="https://www.technologyreview.com/2022/11/03/1062752/twitter-may-have-lost-more-than-a-million-users-since-elon-musk-took-over/">more
than a million users</a>, and <a href="https://www.npr.org/2022/11/25/1139180002/twitter-loses-50-top-advertisers-elon-musk">half
of its top 100</a> advertisers.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The movie
parallel for this dumpster fire is the David Cronenberg neo noir, <i>Cosmopolis
</i>starring Robert Pattinson. Set in one “location” the film follows a young billionaire
in the back of a limousine as he drives round town, meeting with people after
having made a poor financial decision. The slow unraveling of Pattinson’s world
as the day progresses, fits the delicious turmoil that Musk finds himself in now;
<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/nov/21/elon-musk-went-on-a-firing-frenzy-at-twitter-now-hes-paying-for-it">firing
half of the workforce</a> (including ones <a href="https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-news/elon-musk-firing-employees-posts-twitter-1234631031/">who
criticized him</a>) and pitching various schemes to be able to pay <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/03/technology/elon-musk-twitter-money-finances.html#:~:text=Musk%2C%20the%20world's%20richest%20man,billion%20annually%20in%20interest%20alone.">the
1 billion dollars in interest</a> he owes every year, henceforth.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 24.0pt; line-height: 107%;">4)</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span></span><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 24.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The 2022 Midterms: <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0483726/">Man of the Year</a> </span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 24.0pt; line-height: 107%;">(2006)</span><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p></o:p></span></i></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 24.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/tX4tvZnnmt8" width="320" youtube-src-id="tX4tvZnnmt8"></iframe></div><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 24.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The events leading up to the 2022
midterms were dire for Democrats and the political left. Often considered a
referendum on the current administration, the expectations for the Midterms in
the beginning were decidedly bleak with many conservative pundits and elected
officials prophesizing a “red wave” or “red tsunami” that would take back
control in the Senate and further solidify their dominance in the House. <a href="https://www.npr.org/2022/11/09/1135622044/no-red-wave-but-a-divided-government-is-still-a-possibility">This
did not happen</a>. Many on the right blamed the <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2022/11/09/2022-election-results-analysis-and-takeaways-00065878">unwillingness
to distance themselves from Donald Trump</a>, while others believed that it was
the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/nov/16/gen-z-helped-to-stop-the-red-wave-in-the-midterms-the-republicans-response-try-to-raise-the-voting-age">inclusion
of Gen Z</a> voters and <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/10/us/politics/abortion-midterm-elections-democrats-republicans.html">the
overturning of <i>Roe</i></a><i> </i>(more on that later) that calmed the tide.
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Our politics
have become a circus clown show (and not the fun kind where we get <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lord_Buckethead">Lord Buckethead</a>). There
is an eerie quality to the way that Barry Sonnenfeld’s political satire, <i>Man
of the Year </i>starring Robin Williams mirrors real life: Lack of Confidence
in voting machines, and a celebrity host wins the presidency. Yet, where our political
reality tests the levels of hell of Dante’s <i>Inferno, </i>Sonnenfeld’s film
is far more benevolent, dismantling the circus before it does real damage. We
need to always speak truth to power, unfortunately that voice gets muzzled the minute
that power is achieved.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a name="_Hlk121040882"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 24.0pt; line-height: 107%;">3)</span></a><span style="mso-bookmark: _Hlk121040882;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: _Hlk121040882;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 24.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Mass
Shootings Uvalde and Club Q</span></b></span><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 24.0pt; line-height: 107%;">:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 24pt;">Double
Feature</span><b style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 24pt;">: </b></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 24pt;"><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5278578/">Newtown</a></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 24pt;">
(2016) </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/z5zE-VKuEFk" width="320" youtube-src-id="z5zE-VKuEFk"></iframe></div><br /><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 24pt;"><br /></span><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 24pt;"> </span><b style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 24pt;"><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0119530/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_2">Licensed
to Kill</a> </b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 24pt;">(1997)</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/jvl489jnFKw" width="320" youtube-src-id="jvl489jnFKw"></iframe></div><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 24pt;"><br /></span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">On May 24, 2022, a gunmen
entered Robb Elementary school unimpeded, with an AR style rifle. He shut
himself in two adjoining classrooms and was not engaged with for over an hour.
In that time, the shooter was able to kill 19 children and 2 teachers. Off duty
border patrol agents bypassed the local police, entered the room, and killed
the suspect.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In the intervening hour
plus, when the gunman was not engaged, the Uvalde police department cordoned
off the area, kept civilian parents back from entering the building to rescue
their children, and then waited for more personnel, and military style weapons,
before the breach was made.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>On Nov 10-11, 2022, a mass shooting
took place at Club Q, an LGBTQ+ bar. The gunman killed 5 people and injured 25
others. This comes on the heels of a <a href="https://www.splcenter.org/hatewatch/2022/11/22/colorado-springs-far-right-influencers-made-lgbtq-people-targets">rise
in anti- LGBTQ+ rhetoric</a> and violence, specifically <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/22/us/colorado-springs-community-club-q.html">occurring
in the Colorado Springs</a> area where Club Q was <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2022/11/22/us/club-q-colorado-springs-lgbtq-community/index.html">considered
a safe haven</a>. The act was perpetrated on the eve of Transgender Day of Remembrance
when the names and lives of those Trans identified people who’ve died (<a href="https://www.hrc.org/resources/fatal-violence-against-the-transgender-and-gender-non-conforming-community-in-2022">many
by murder or suicide</a>) are honored. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">I’ve already written
about the Uvalde shooting and the cowardice, lack of communication, and overall
incompetence of the Uvalde police department in my recent essay on <a href="http://thesociologistsdojo.blogspot.com/2022/08/police-punisher-and-performative.html">Masculinity
and violence. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></a>The same analysis can
be used on the Club Q shooting because of the ties our society makes between
heterosexuality and masculinity. The perpetrator having experienced their own masculine
reinforced homophobic bullying continued the cycle of violence at Club Q.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The two films that stand
out that can give the audience some semblance of the atmosphere of these two mass
shootings are the documentary about the Sandyhook school shooting titled <i>Newtown
(2016), </i>and the documentary about LGBTQAI+ murders, <i>Licensed to Kill
(1997).<a href="https://d.docs.live.net/bb5a620476910e43/Documents/Sociologists%20Dojo/The%20Dojo's%20Top%20ten%20films%20that%20encapsulate%202022.docx#_ftn1" name="_ftnref1" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn1;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[1]</span></b></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a></i>
Both of these films show that these conditions and events in 2022 are not novel.
It is important to remember that history does not repeat itself…but it rhymes.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 24.0pt; line-height: 107%;">2)</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 24.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Russian invasion of
Ukraine: </span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 24.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0091251/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1">Come
and See</a> </span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 24.0pt; line-height: 107%;">(1985)</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/a7lK3hbr8h8" width="320" youtube-src-id="a7lK3hbr8h8"></iframe></div><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 24.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>On
Feb 22<sup>nd</sup>, 2022, <a href="https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine">Russian
forces invaded the sovereign State of Ukraine</a> in an escalation of their
conflict that began in 2014. Since the occupation and resistance has begun,
tens of thousands on both sides have died, communities bombed, and global
economies have been disrupted. Putin originally stating that the invasion was
to “De-nazify” Ukraine in a thinly veiled, impossibly transparent attempt at disguising
these war crimes as just and heroic. The act has received wide international condemnation
and The International Criminal Court has begun an investigation into these Russian
actions.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Elem
Kilmov’s brutal vision of the Russian resistance against the Nazi’s in WWII, <i>Come
and See, </i>follows a young Belarusian boy as he witnesses the horrors of war.
The film is remarkable in the way that it takes the initial enthusiasm the
protagonist has for war and violence, (having been romanticized by masculine propaganda),
but through his experiences, has his whole worldview on war completely upended.
We the audience, are surrogate bystanders to the death of his childhood, as we
watch him become a hollowed out emotionless husk of a person by films end. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-left: 35.25pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -29.25pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 24.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">1)<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 24.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Supreme
Court overturning of <i>Roe v. Wade</i>: <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt13880104/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0">Happening</a> </span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 24.0pt; line-height: 107%;">(2021)<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-left: 35.25pt; text-align: center; text-indent: -29.25pt;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/HAQVYYqj3Ro" width="320" youtube-src-id="HAQVYYqj3Ro"></iframe></div><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 24.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 6.0pt; text-indent: 29.25pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The
political gridlock of the last 15 years has made legislating difficult for either
party. Yet, due to court packing practices of Goblin King Mitch McConnell, the Conservative
Republican agenda can now be pushed forward through the Judicial system. This
was made clear when, in May of 2022, a leaked draft memo of the upcoming <i>Dobbs
</i>decision indicated that the Conservative majority court was going to
overturn <i>Roe </i>on the basis that the privacy distinction (that was used to
identify access) was no longer valid. This would lead to immediate
implementation of 15 state “trigger bans” that were put in conservative states
once Federal protections were lifted on June 24<sup>th</sup>, 2022. Rather than
codify access into federal law or allow for abortions to still take place on
protected federal lands, the Democratic party used this as a political weapon
to help them in the mid-terms and presumably 2024. Additionally, because the dismantling
of <i>Roe</i> was done through the privacy provision, many other social justice
protections could now be threatened, such as gay and interracial Marriage, and access
to contraception. However, yesterday as of this writing, the Congress has
codified Interracial Marriages into law. Though, prior to that, we all knew
this protection was not in danger so long as Clarence Thomas still sits upon
the Court. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 6.0pt; text-indent: 29.25pt;"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Happening,</span></i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">
set in anti- abortion 1960’s France, follows the story of a woman’s Odyssey to acquire
an abortion. Secret meetings, traveling long distances, and back-alley rendezvouses
pepper this harrowing journey of reclaiming one’s identity after what could
very well be a death sentence. This is the situation millions of women now find
themselves in 60 years later in the US. The film really ratchets up the tension
forcing the audience to sit with the protagonist’s increasing desperation as
the time limit to get the procedure approaches. The film conveys the
protagonist’s feelings of simultaneous relief and horror when the procedure is
complete with such empathy, that it feels like an Oracle. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7klwN7BCrdp4-y7Rn2GCLFDpuMHr738iGA-68sMQJdjlWb_M2vzH075ZG_8k45UNSkK24On6iIpzSkjxZMZ_ALQwGPs3uWl-K_eRS7ceGAYbEIyxxuTiYoyXGZAIp6kgQ6MPshebu4kaq6GuwXmDSPUjxuGRGSjlTbR4eEcVROtJTnyEZQQJ1CxVs4Q/s1300/1559668089_ouvparasite.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="919" data-original-width="1300" height="283" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7klwN7BCrdp4-y7Rn2GCLFDpuMHr738iGA-68sMQJdjlWb_M2vzH075ZG_8k45UNSkK24On6iIpzSkjxZMZ_ALQwGPs3uWl-K_eRS7ceGAYbEIyxxuTiYoyXGZAIp6kgQ6MPshebu4kaq6GuwXmDSPUjxuGRGSjlTbR4eEcVROtJTnyEZQQJ1CxVs4Q/w400-h283/1559668089_ouvparasite.jpg" width="400" /></a></b></div><b><br /></b><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">CONCLUSION </span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 24.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Thus, I look out, on the precipice
of another year on the horizon, with a minor sense of personal hope that
absolutely, positively… does not extend to the mezzo or macro level(s). Our
institutions are crumbling, there is an acrimonious stalemate in Congress while
the current “<a href="https://store.crooked.com/collections/strict-scrutiny/products/strict-scrutiny-yolo-court-t-shirt">Yolo
Supreme Court”</a> is eroding federal protections and undermining constitutional
rights. There is not much to be thankful for on that level, which is why it is essential
for us to find love and joy wherever we find it. Whether that be among our
family, friends, spouses, partners and ‘others of significance’, we cannot
count on happiness coming from anyone other than inside and around all of us. I
leave you with the regeneration of the 13<sup>th</sup> Doctor into their 14<sup>th</sup>
incarnation. May we all transform ourselves for the coming celebrations and challenges
ahead. See you all in 2023! <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 24.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<div style="mso-element: footnote-list;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/5mbD2VxtGJk" width="320" youtube-src-id="5mbD2VxtGJk"></iframe></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><!--[if !supportFootnotes]-->
<hr align="left" size="1" width="33%" />
<!--[endif]-->
<div id="ftn1" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<p class="MsoFootnoteText"><a href="https://d.docs.live.net/bb5a620476910e43/Documents/Sociologists%20Dojo/The%20Dojo's%20Top%20ten%20films%20that%20encapsulate%202022.docx#_ftnref1" name="_ftn1" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn1;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[1]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a> This
is not a Steven Segal film. I REPEAT THIS IS NOT THE STEVEN SEGAL FILM OF THE
SAME NAME <o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
</div><br /><p></p>Brian Brutlaghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08099644007940320266noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8714941782515128558.post-78398817879127370902022-11-06T09:54:00.000-08:002022-11-06T09:54:21.836-08:00The Films of Karyn Kusama: Aeon Flux<p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgy0sawIRF8L3kSAwiIDa9jDczfq19Ie2O2oyml9CMzJrR_QswVC4YO1AihJPi1ATUzo8Jqjb-SPzed3BBuczg3JwFIBb1LOv0dPm_dl-0ghXhPgmnl7FgX3onFyruFeZlyi79cSBD219oBdZbFHrFqjVxOzTyZaXpootcBxhQTg0Oyq-ojQa89a2mc7g/s1482/9f3ddff55bafb36c2d8017685778294c.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1482" data-original-width="1000" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgy0sawIRF8L3kSAwiIDa9jDczfq19Ie2O2oyml9CMzJrR_QswVC4YO1AihJPi1ATUzo8Jqjb-SPzed3BBuczg3JwFIBb1LOv0dPm_dl-0ghXhPgmnl7FgX3onFyruFeZlyi79cSBD219oBdZbFHrFqjVxOzTyZaXpootcBxhQTg0Oyq-ojQa89a2mc7g/w270-h400/9f3ddff55bafb36c2d8017685778294c.jpg" width="270" /></a></div><p style="text-align: center;"><br /></p><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The
second film in my Analysis of The Films of Karyn Kusama is the dystopian
dialectical sci fi flop <i>Aeon Flux.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></i>Adapted
from the series of the same name, this film version was a chance for Kusama to
prove her grit by successfully helming a big budget studio film of a beloved
property, while showing that such adaptations can be developed with an arthouse
flair, years before the concept was a known commodity. Unfortunately, the film
was not created nor received in the spirit of the original film pitch, nor its
source material. This paper seeks to understand the historical context in which
these decisions were made, while looking at the sociological concepts of the
film, and the consequences of the film’s fallout, which impacted Kusama longer
than her fellow male directors.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/d11loPMnC2w" width="320" youtube-src-id="d11loPMnC2w"></iframe></div><br /><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">PLOT<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">In 2415, a soldier in a rebel
faction against its Orwellian government attempts to assassinate their dictator.
Finding that she is uncharacteristically unwilling and unable to complete the
mission, Aeon Flux (Theron), searches for answers and uncovers the truth about life
and death; a secret that threatens to shake the last human city of Bregna down
to its core.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Alienated from both the
Government and the rebels, Aeon Flux must make unlikely allies in hopes for survival
for herself and the rest of humanity. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBYRxj7hYZGtgNKtAh_MLj-xFWscNXFGQlXlqur5SDyFndAGtn4y6d6UzWJAGk8DPk3scnk2GDaBLXsO7d-jQBT5nXJoswP7KuWEwkiTiU1v99CLUICG2xeC9NxIZTVmGAmL5_bO-Gps5VVlMg6XOm2hYdBEyIxwRHcYc5OTOvO901RQeLZJ6JM7_EnA/s1404/7_sammy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1404" data-original-width="1000" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBYRxj7hYZGtgNKtAh_MLj-xFWscNXFGQlXlqur5SDyFndAGtn4y6d6UzWJAGk8DPk3scnk2GDaBLXsO7d-jQBT5nXJoswP7KuWEwkiTiU1v99CLUICG2xeC9NxIZTVmGAmL5_bO-Gps5VVlMg6XOm2hYdBEyIxwRHcYc5OTOvO901RQeLZJ6JM7_EnA/w228-h320/7_sammy.jpg" width="228" /></a></div><br /><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">HISTORICAL CONTEXT<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span></span></b><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Source
Material <o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span></span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The
original <i>Aeon Flux </i>was a post-apocalyptic sci-fi adult animation created
and directed by Peter Chung. The plot centered around the warring factions of
the last two human cities: Monica and Bregna. Where Bregna was a totalitarian nightmare
of rigid order, Monica was based on anarchistic hedonism. The series follows
Aeon through various missions to ultimately kill the sovereign leader, Trevor
Goodchild. Not only were Aeon and Trevor constructed as the typical
protagonists and antagonists, but also their opposite, the exception to their identity
and skill set. Aeon, a master assassin, and warrior can do anything, except
kill Treavor. Treavor, a Brilliant Scientist, and military tactician, can have
anything he wants, except the thing he wants the most, which is Aeon. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Each encounter between them played on this tension
leading to sex, betrayal, and violence, often all three at the same time.
Throughout the shorts and the series, the audience vacillates their allegiances
from Aeon to Treavor and back again; highlighting that they are both despicable
people in pursuit of their own goal(s). <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The series was originally presented as a combination
of shorts and a limited series broadcasted by MTV as apart of their “Liquid
Television” line up from 1991-1995.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This
series, especially the original shorts, captivated the attention of viewers
because of the animation’s fluid and BDSM influenced sexuality and violence.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Because Chung never desired an adaptation of
his work, most of the shorts included the death of Aeon, which confused the
audience as to how the stories were being told, for even though Aeon seemed to
die, the story still progressed, sometimes continuing with Aeon, and sometimes
with other soldiers. It was eventually revealed/retconned that both cities had
invented and implemented cloning technology and used it against their enemy.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Marketed and chiefly
consumed by Generation X, (1964-1980) <i>Aeon Flux</i>, the series, was one of
the few at the time that had a broader perspective on war and violence that
mirrored the anti-war, cold war despair felt by the latchkey kids of pro
capitalist Boomers. In the first short, as Aeon Flux runs through a factory
indiscriminately murdering all of the soldiers in her path, the story leaves
her and makes the audience sit in the carnage that she created. In the
aftermath, gravely wounded soldiers find each other and spend their last few
moments together before dying of their injuries. The short continues following the
crew tasked with cleaning up the massacre and return everything to Bregna’s
pristine totalitarian order.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is one
of the first US animated series with a clear anti-authoritarian message, forcing
the audience to sit in the inevitable collateral damage of war of which Gen X were
so emboldened to resist. It was a perfect counter cultural moment for the quintessential
dissonant generation.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center; text-indent: 0.5in;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/ntI54nYJaNs" width="320" youtube-src-id="ntI54nYJaNs"></iframe></div><br /><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Production.<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">First announced in 2003,
the film was the brainchild of Shelly Lansing at Paramount Pictures. She brought
on Karyn Kusama just after her brilliant debut in <i><a href="http://thesociologistsdojo.blogspot.com/2022/10/the-films-of-karyn-kusama-girlfight.html">Girlfight<span style="font-style: normal;">.</span></a></i> In the beginning, Kusama’s indie
female focused sensibilities seem to be in lock step with the animated
characterization of Aeon, and the characterization and tone Lansing was going
for… and she was hoping to reteam Kusama with Michelle Rodriguez in the titular
role. The role eventually went to Charlize Theron coming off of her Oscar win
for <i>Monster</i>, adding even more indie drama credibility. Yet, regardless
of executive enthusiasm, and the acquisition of award-winning director and
star, the film became fraught with problems that plagued the film from all
aspects of production.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The first hiccup came
when Kusama began to scout locations for the bulk of the shoot.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Kusama’s initial choice of location was
Brasilia, Brazil; believing it to fit the aesthetic of Bregna. This was
summarily rejected by the studio citing both the expense and the
unsubstantiated belief that the city could not sustain the budget and scope of
the production. Given that this was Kusama’s second film, and first studio
picture, she did not have the clout to make a final decision on the matter.
Like many indie directors on their sophomore outing, they have to prove
themselves to be “bankable” to a studio. Therefore, many directors in this
position are ostensibly directors-for-hire because of how little impact and input
they have on the film. This became apparent the deeper <i>Aeon Flux</i> went into
production.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The next hiccup came
during principal photography. After reading a copy of the script, Peter Chung, publicly
denounced the adaptation, saying that “[He] did not see Aeon in this film.” To
his point, the writers of <i>Aeon Flux, </i>Phill Hay and Matt Manfredi,<i> </i>were
the same writers behind award winning hits like <i>RIPD</i> (the Ryan Reynolds
Jeff Bridges travesty about a supernatural police force)<i> </i>and <i>Ride
Along </i>(the buddy movie starring Ice Cube and Kevin Hart). Yet, chagriningly,
this is also the writing team for most of Kusama’s body of work (except <i>Girlfight
</i>and <i>Jennifer’s Body). </i>Kusama met Hay during production and were
married a year later. To square this cognitive dissonance, one must take into
consideration their entire collaborative body of work. In that context, aside
from this film, which Kusama had little control over, by far the best stuff
that Hay and Manfredi have written, has been with Kusama.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This could be due to the chemistry and
unlikely symmetry between Kusama and Hay, that they just understand each other
so completely that it elevates their work. Or, more likely, it was less an
equally collaborative affair, and more Kusama’s influence on their future writing
partnership.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The third and final
hiccup, and one that signaled the film’s asphyxiation, came during postproduction.
During the editing of the film, producer Shelly Lansing, the biggest champion
of Kusama’s vision for the film, left the company and was replaced by Donald Doline.
After the first round of edits, Donald Doline left and was replaced by Brad
Gray and Gayle Brenneman. Thus, because production companies are motivated by profits,
each new producer took the film away from Kusama and heavily edited it. Of
Kusama’s 105-minute R-Rated cut, Gray and Breneman eventually created a 71-minute
PG-13 film to try and widen the market for the film’s release. After the producer
cut got horribly reviewed at a preview screening, they brought Kusama back to
re-cut the film, but exclusively NOT to her original vision. It was because of
this experience that Kusama now demands final cut on all her projects, even if
it means a pay cut.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Unbeknownst to Kusama at
the time, the unraveling of <i>Aeon Flux </i>was a symptom of Corporate
Capitalism. In 2002-2005, the production time of the film, Viacom, the parent
company of Paramount, was going through massive restructuring; splitting, and
merging various parts of themselves to avoid repeating anti-trust litigation
they once faced in 1948. Because of this, executives were moved around in a
shell game of corporate responsibilities and profit consolidation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Yet, in this profit driven system, many of these
new executives, to show their value and worth to the company, came up with new
ideas and edits for the films under their purview, while ignoring what their
predecessors did; regardless of if the ideas were good or not. This reinforces
the importance of context in pop culture criticism, lest we forget that the
film is a product of the conditions under which it was made. Thus, it should be
no surprise that a film like <i>Aeon Flux </i>was created at a time of greed
and corporate malfeasance. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><br /></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8reuNiD6X44XC-Vp6ILjYa4e0xZdFoBHuW-cd2cC8u7f2LjWVzgJVUGY0tOCxteo6ZVONZ8UA3STix4a06NA1vMiIJNQEuIIInR4wq7ga3GzRmYq1mw4k5O9varEqMYlLXgXX4FS0PSOGATZ9Ob4XIRKnDQv1CjAv7KnkBwBSN_2GbcyXdGDQHlN5pg/s1209/fkBLa2W.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="680" data-original-width="1209" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8reuNiD6X44XC-Vp6ILjYa4e0xZdFoBHuW-cd2cC8u7f2LjWVzgJVUGY0tOCxteo6ZVONZ8UA3STix4a06NA1vMiIJNQEuIIInR4wq7ga3GzRmYq1mw4k5O9varEqMYlLXgXX4FS0PSOGATZ9Ob4XIRKnDQv1CjAv7KnkBwBSN_2GbcyXdGDQHlN5pg/w400-h225/fkBLa2W.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">SOCIAL ANALYSIS </span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Kusama
being a “hired gun” on <i>Aeon Flux</i> resulted in a lot of the socially
relevant and sociological themes that will be consistent across her later work,
to be sparse here and muddled in their presentation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A lot of the interesting ideas that this film
touches on, are not well conceived or given much weight, even though they are
the central foundation for the setting of the film. Thus, this film attempts to
touch on fascism, totalitarianism, bodies and their biopower without
conscientiously engaging with them.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><i>Totalitarian
Dystopia <o:p></o:p></i></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><i>Aeon
Flux, </i>like a lot of sci-fi films take the imagery and the rhetoric of
Orwell’s <i>1984 </i>as a shorthand for despotic futurism. Yet, these films
often only use that imagery as window dressing rather than conducting a
thorough interrogation. In this context, Orwell’s <i>1984</i> is dime store Max
Weber with a sprinkling of C. Wright Mills. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">According to </span><a href="https://pages.gseis.ucla.edu/faculty/kellner/Illumina%20Folder/kell13.htm"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Kelner
(1984)<span style="mso-footnote-id: ftn1;" title=""><sup><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><u><sup><span style="color: #0563c1; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-themecolor: hyperlink;">[1]</span></sup></u><!--[endif]--></span></sup></span>
</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The differences between Orwell and Weber are subtle,
but present: <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Unlike Max Weber, Orwell does not conceive
of bureaucracy as containing its own dynamics, its own rationality, or its own
contradictions. Consequently, especially in <b>1984</b>, Orwell reinforces
the predominantly conservative-individualist vision that the state and
bureaucracy per se are repressive and serve to concentrate power in a
bureaucratic caste. For Orwell, power and the will to power are depicted as the
prime goal of a bureaucratic society and the primary motivation for party
bureaucrats. Power is not a means but is an end in itself, <b>the</b> end
or telos of at least the political elite's individual and societal behavior.
Revolution, in this picture, is primarily a project of seizing power and
establishing a new class of party bureaucrats whose primary goal is maintaining
their own power.</span></i><span style="background: white; color: #930000; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 107%;"> </span><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"> For Max Weber, by
contrast, bureaucracy contained a certain amount of logic and rationality and
was part of a process of rationalization and modernization which produced at
least some social benefits and progress (i.e. rational calculation,
predictability, law, governance by rules rather than force, etc.)<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Whereas Orwell narratively constructs a Bureaucracy as
a conscious enemy of the people, and a focal point for revolution away from it,
Weber understands that a lot of social control is the most effective through noninvasive
coercion, rather than direct oppression. Weber (2019) knew that direct
oppression would increase the likelihood of resistance. To curb resistance, the
bureaucracy traps individuals into an endless cycle of routines and standardized
behavior, the Weberian “Iron Cage”, to make the people more pliable (Weber
2019). <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For Orwell, the bureaucracy is a
mustache twirling villain with morose machinations. Instead, Weber (2019)
realizes that the true terror of a bureaucratic composition is in its banality,
and apathy towards its prisoners. Because it is not about the people trapped, it
is about the continuation of the system.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The crux
of the difference between an Orwellian narrative and a Weberian Perspective is
that between an individualist and collectivist perspective. Orwell assumes that
individual people desiring power are the driving force of the domination and
oppression of the system. Weber, on the other hand, understands that systems,
once developed and implemented, do not emphasize individuals beyond just a resource
to keep the system operating.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
domination and oppression in the Weberian system is an afterthought of the
mechanisms of control implemented upon individuals, to make society operate
with calculably efficient rationality (Weber 2019). Upon closer examination,
the common system that Orwell describes seems to fit more with C. Wright Mills
idea of The Power Elite; a predatory system that keeps power in the hands of a
few, while actively oppressing others. Yet, because Mills (1956) is a student
of Weber, he does not place too much value in the importance of the individuals
in power because they can be cycled out. The position within the institution of
power is more important than who holds the seat. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Bodies, Reproduction and
Bio Power <o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The film’s revelation that
the consciousness of the citizens in Bregna are recycled into different bodies
as they age and die, points to the execution of Foucauldian Biopower over the
populace. Biopower is the ability for individuals, organizations, or systems to
have control over how a person experiences and defines their body (Foucault 1977).
In a very direct sense, this can be expressed through controlling when people
eat, sleep, use the restroom etc. This usually takes place in <b>Total
Institutions.<o:p></o:p></b></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">According to Goffman (1961):<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">A <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Total Institution </b>is a particular type of social institution within
the social order. This is a hybrid between a residential community and formal
organization <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">Components<a href="https://d.docs.live.net/bb5a620476910e43/Documents/Sociologists%20Dojo/Aeon%20Flux%20Review%20.docx#_ftn2" name="_ftnref2" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn2;" title=""><sup><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><sup><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[2]</span></sup><!--[endif]--></span></sup></a>:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">1)<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">All aspects of social life are conducted in
the same place and under the same single authority <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">2)<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">Each phase of the member’s daily activity is
in the immediate company of a large batch of others <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">3)<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">All activities are tightly scheduled <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">4)<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">All forced activities are brought together in
a single rational plan to fulfill the aims of the institution.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">5)<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">Person is often excluded from knowledge and
decision regarding their fate. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">Total institution’s control allows them to be
easily harnessed by would-be or established dictators. This is accounted for in
the film when Trevor Goodchild, the scientist that created the cure for the
genocidal virus, became the ruler for over 400 years. In that time, the
biopower he administered was a moratorium on natural pregnancy with an over
reliance on cloning. This overreliance on cloning led to the fraying of
recycled psyches resulting in developing madness and eventual death. However,
Goodchild’s brother (an original character for the film to which all of
Trevor’s “bad” qualities from the series could be grafted), believing that the
totalitarian system is perfect, ultimately sabotages the reemergence of natural
births through the murder of expectant mothers.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The
film’s antagonist exercising of biopower, to maintain the population, is of the
very real social problem of the rollback of reproductive rights for women in
the US. Outside of the directness the act of murder represents in the film, the
general denial of natural births can be interestingly paralleled with the</span><a href="https://reproductiverights.org/maps/abortion-laws-by-state/"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;"> birth enforcement enacted in ½ of US states</span></a><a href="https://d.docs.live.net/bb5a620476910e43/Documents/Sociologists%20Dojo/Aeon%20Flux%20Review%20.docx#_ftn3" name="_ftnref3" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn3;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[3]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;"> after the overturning of <i>Roe. </i>in June
of 2022. Just as the people of Bregna were forced to relive their lives and
have their consciousness recycled through cloning (while openly eliminating
natural births), so too are US women in ½ the states in the country forced to carry
a child to term: regardless of the effect on the health of the mother, </span><a href="https://www.npr.org/2022/07/13/1111285143/abortion-10-year-old-raped-ohio"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">even rape survivors as young as 10, <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">nor the quality of life for the child after birth.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This parallel is just one of many made
between current US politics and various examples of misogynistically despotic
pop culture<a href="https://d.docs.live.net/bb5a620476910e43/Documents/Sociologists%20Dojo/Aeon%20Flux%20Review%20.docx#_ftn4" name="_ftnref4" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn4;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[4]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>in
recent years; all of which should be met with alarm. Unfortunately, rather than
get outraged at such an apt comparison, the result of this widely consumed and
eerily prophetic form of entertainment is one of normalized acceptance rather
than indignation. And, so long as our real politics do not exclusively copy the
imagery of pop culture, they will be used as an unfair comparison; minimizing
the impact of these decisions and shrouding the failure of allowing Supreme
Court Justices to legislate from the bench to circumvent the democratic process.
We will say “Well, at least its not exactly like <i>Handmaid’s Tale.</i>” Or
more likely: “Those women Protesting in Handmaid’s outfits are embellishing/
being overly dramatic.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The US constant
consumption of content has not only eroded our imaginations, but for
comparisons to be considered apt in our culture, they must also be literal.
Otherwise, the analogy is left open for criticism, especially a dismissal as hyperbole.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in; text-indent: .5in;"><b><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></i></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in; text-indent: .5in;"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">Hollywood double standards…no surprise.</span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>After
the release and subsequent implosion of <i>Aeon Flux, </i>Karyn Kusama
languished in <a href="https://www.indiewire.com/2016/03/amy-heckerling-explains-how-director-jail-is-different-for-men-and-women-60182/">“director
jail”</a> for years. This is a state of limbo filmmakers get put into after a
notable or typically horrendous film is poorly received by both audiences and
critics. Incarcerated directors are given few offers to direct projects, and
any personal or independent projects they have will not gain traction. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Unfortunately, but to no one’s surprise, <a href="https://decider.com/2018/02/27/women-in-director-jail/">female directors
often are given longer sentences than male directors</a>. Since the patriarchy
tends to see women in occupations to be niche, and therefore both being too
specific and too general at the same time, the industry is unwilling to “take a
chance” on another “female director.” Meanwhile, if male directors get sent to “jail”
they often do not stay long, constantly giving many of them another shot.
However, there has been an increasing trend of male directors being allowed <a href="https://www.pajiba.com/film_reviews/the-upwards-failing-of-colin-trevorrow-and-why-it-matters.php"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>to fail upwards</a>. In these situations, male
directors don’t go to jail, they’re given the industry equivalent of diplomatic
immunity. No matter what these director’s make, and regardless of how well
their film is received they are given bigger budgets, more control, and greater
desired IP. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">This double standard exists
because of the patriarchy valuing men and their perspective over any other. Therefore,
men are given ample opportunities to express themselves, or if they make a
mistake, correct their behavior by the simple “virtue” of being men. We see
this in every industry from business executives, teachers, authors etc. In film,
men are given near unlimited chances to succeed, and when their projects or
personal proclivities fall short, meaning <a href="https://www.glamourmagazine.co.uk/article/hollywood-men-comeback-from-sexual-assault">they
turn out to be rapists, abusers and assaulters</a>, there is a <a href="https://www.vox.com/culture/2018/7/24/17460392/mel-gibson-comeback-metoo-times-up"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>codified redemption model </a><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>that they can follow to make their comeback. Mel
Gibson, Robert Downey Jr. Aziz Ansari and Louis C. K. have all used it. Male
directors are specifically lauded and exalted usually because at least one of
their films are so revered that the director is later deified. Conversely, the reality
for female directors is the opposite. If female directors make a well received well
reviewed film, the industry automatically treats it like a fluke, <a href="https://www.anothergaze.com/second-coming-women-filmmakers-struggle-get-second-features-made/">and
the female director will have to work twice as hard, and will be under greater
scrutiny</a> on their second, and any future projects.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><b></b></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjH7t6PfRG3Xr1lRNa8rl4iClEbHS9xqnBXjiBte0Ei5GS1-TlU4GJjFITtb7SIBxnsS1VE_ogs6wG-DKUlg8gVSZR2nvVZVHrLWqfFJg65ZORNPBKX6zCD1z4MiLxz1Kq_q_KPKcA3BEbdpWL8-n-Jbdy5vsFLnfK5WgCm9kolwwR3b3pnRG8GYBuLCA/s300/ran-5e75c40830cf3.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="248" data-original-width="300" height="331" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjH7t6PfRG3Xr1lRNa8rl4iClEbHS9xqnBXjiBte0Ei5GS1-TlU4GJjFITtb7SIBxnsS1VE_ogs6wG-DKUlg8gVSZR2nvVZVHrLWqfFJg65ZORNPBKX6zCD1z4MiLxz1Kq_q_KPKcA3BEbdpWL8-n-Jbdy5vsFLnfK5WgCm9kolwwR3b3pnRG8GYBuLCA/w400-h331/ran-5e75c40830cf3.png" width="400" /></a></b></div><b><br /><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></b><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">CONCLUSION<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Aeon Flux</span></i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">
is not a good film. It has pacing issues, a thin story, regardless of the foundational
source material, the action is full of wire work and edited quickly to hide
poor choreography and the dialogue is atrocious. Sociologically, there are a
lot of interesting things that this film touches on but does not delve into
with any meaningful depth. None of the responsibility for this should have been
laid at the feet of Karyn Kusama. It is not her fault, but she bared the brunt
of the consequences; taking her another 4 years to be offered another film.
Imagine if she was given another opportunity sooner than that, and what if she
was encouraged to keep writing and directing her own work? It is another common
story of Hollywood dispossessing another female Hollywood auteur in favor of the
fraternal order of fragile filmmakers. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">REFERENCES<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; text-indent: -.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Foucault,
Michel 1977. <i>Discipline and Punish: The Birth of the Prison </i>new York:
Vintage Books <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; text-indent: -.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Goffman,
Erving 1961. <i>Asylums: Essays on the Social Situation of Mental Patients and
Other Inmates. </i>New York: Anchor Books<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; text-indent: -.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Kelner,
Douglas 1984. “From 1984 to One-Dimensional Man: Critical
Reflections on Orwell and Marcuse” Retrieved at <a href="https://pages.gseis.ucla.edu/faculty/kellner/Illumina%20Folder/kell13.htm%20Retrieved%20on%2011/5/2022">https://pages.gseis.ucla.edu/faculty/kellner/Illumina%20Folder/kell13.htm
Retrieved on 11/5/2022</a><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; text-indent: -.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Mills,
C. Wright 2000. <i>The Power Elite </i>New York: Oxford University Press<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; text-indent: -.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Weber,
Max 2019. <i>Economy and Society: A New Translation </i>Massachusetts, Harvard
University Press<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<div style="mso-element: footnote-list;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><br clear="all" />
<hr align="left" size="1" width="33%" />
<!--[endif]-->
<div id="ftn1" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<p class="MsoFootnoteText"><a href="https://d.docs.live.net/bb5a620476910e43/Documents/Sociologists%20Dojo/Aeon%20Flux%20Review%20.docx#_ftnref1" name="_ftn1" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn1;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[1]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a> <a href="https://pages.gseis.ucla.edu/faculty/kellner/Illumina%20Folder/kell13.htm">https://pages.gseis.ucla.edu/faculty/kellner/Illumina%20Folder/kell13.htm</a>
<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="ftn2" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<p class="MsoFootnoteText"><a href="https://d.docs.live.net/bb5a620476910e43/Documents/Sociologists%20Dojo/Aeon%20Flux%20Review%20.docx#_ftnref2" name="_ftn2" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn2;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[2]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
Goffman (1961) <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Asylums </i><o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="ftn3" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<p class="MsoFootnoteText"><a href="https://d.docs.live.net/bb5a620476910e43/Documents/Sociologists%20Dojo/Aeon%20Flux%20Review%20.docx#_ftnref3" name="_ftn3" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn3;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[3]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a> (12
states Abortion is illegal, and in an additional 13 states, laws are openly
hostile to abortion access)<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="ftn4" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<p class="MsoFootnoteText"><a href="https://d.docs.live.net/bb5a620476910e43/Documents/Sociologists%20Dojo/Aeon%20Flux%20Review%20.docx#_ftnref4" name="_ftn4" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn4;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[4]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a> <i>The
Handmaid’s Tale</i> being the common example, and used often in protests <o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
</div><br /><p></p>Brian Brutlaghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08099644007940320266noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8714941782515128558.post-62016632523149049912022-10-09T10:03:00.000-07:002022-10-09T10:03:22.636-07:00The Films of Karyn Kusama: GirlFight <p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6LY4tWn_5f5FjTli3UKWvsy9Z1TmIPY1Rxth_2VgGa0smQ_vuPD4nD5zJYjoXFNLLWTykTe3bQnH_sm9kQoH34Edt88UJV1YVXxGkDcpDH3mkqvoqm78zXJkvMKOKSFyH4j98bF-HEP3RUcTXPMAiQN9DssSftcIcQkEcnT0ZqxWB8lYGGs375YqJFg/s300/9f3ddff55bafb36c2d8017685778294c.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="300" data-original-width="300" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6LY4tWn_5f5FjTli3UKWvsy9Z1TmIPY1Rxth_2VgGa0smQ_vuPD4nD5zJYjoXFNLLWTykTe3bQnH_sm9kQoH34Edt88UJV1YVXxGkDcpDH3mkqvoqm78zXJkvMKOKSFyH4j98bF-HEP3RUcTXPMAiQN9DssSftcIcQkEcnT0ZqxWB8lYGGs375YqJFg/w320-h320/9f3ddff55bafb36c2d8017685778294c.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><p style="text-align: center;"><br /></p><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The
first film in my Analysis of The Films of Karyn Kusama, is the coming-of-age
drama <i>Girlfight</i>. As with Christopher Nolan and </span><a href="http://thesociologistsdojo.blogspot.com/2013/10/the-films-of-christopher-nolan-following.html"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Following</span></i></a><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">,
</span></i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">a
lot of what we see here from Kusama is in its embryonic stages. While Kusama
has always had a decerning eye and a distinct filmmaking style, her shot
compositions, themes, pacing, and narrative structure has a rustic organization
in this debut, which gets refined with each subsequent film. This is mostly due
to the struggles with financing and control of the film, (Something that has
always plagued Kusama) rather than a sharp improvement in quality. In looking
at Kusama’s first feature through a Sociological lens, it is both a product and
representation of the 90’s movie scene. The film also wrestles with third wave
feminism while also embodying the idea of female anger as a path to empowerment.
In this paper, I tackle the intersections of this film with the changing
landscape of feminism at the time it was made; as both a reflection of the
struggles fought, and the foundation for the mainstreaming of feminism, by
turning it into a product.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/tXnnFATpb-4" width="320" youtube-src-id="tXnnFATpb-4"></iframe></div><br /><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">PLOT<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">An angsty and angry teen,
Diana (Michelle Rodriquez in her first role), seeks an outlet for her emotional
turmoil and an escape from the aggression and emotional abuse of her father.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Finding solace in a local boxing gym, and its
training by its sagely patron (Jaime Tirelli) Diana goes on a journey of self-discovery.
As she grows in skills and confidence with each win, Diana challenges the
masculine gatekeeping and casual sexism in the sport’s culture, going so far as
to sacrifice her burgeoning relationship with a fellow boxer, when he becomes
an obstacle.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0brx8ZEyrKpoYSzoe0jUks1ibdv2FYxzJ_buFgBJxOGAejp-rPaTZt2cuQdHsvjz3JP3oN4FX46UOuKQxZSwrTib2HWtb0lNM7s5VJw9bULjBprAIWWJLF_g_6GwyQv0pWiFYWAsV9n27HdjcwbMhI_p37IHzlnrDmewj89COyoUFgZn6k6ieAa5Hrg/s600/fkBLa2W.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="450" data-original-width="600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0brx8ZEyrKpoYSzoe0jUks1ibdv2FYxzJ_buFgBJxOGAejp-rPaTZt2cuQdHsvjz3JP3oN4FX46UOuKQxZSwrTib2HWtb0lNM7s5VJw9bULjBprAIWWJLF_g_6GwyQv0pWiFYWAsV9n27HdjcwbMhI_p37IHzlnrDmewj89COyoUFgZn6k6ieAa5Hrg/s320/fkBLa2W.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">HISTORICAL CONTEXT</span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Production </span></i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Kusama conceived of this
film in 1992 when she was taking boxing classes at Gleason’s Gym in Brooklyn. Kusama
wanted to circumvent the typical boxing story by placing a woman at its center,
something that was still novel and had resistance against in the late 1990’s
when she was putting the film together. This lack of confidence in a female led
boxing film caused the initial financier to pull out of the project two days
before pre-production was about to begin (Smith 2000). The American Film
Institute contributed $300,000, but most of the funding came from Kusama’s
mentor, John Sales, who believed in the film’s premise and Kusama’s vision.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Production only lasted 24
days because that was how long the financing would last and still allow for
consistency across all aspects of the filmmaking. Kusama scouted locations that
would fit the scene as is; rather than having to dress the set themselves,
thereby saving time and money. The result was that the main gym location had
paint chipping off the walls and poor ventilation which caused some health issues
for the cast and crew. Because they had to shoot on real locations, there was
also a lot of difficulty maintaining sound as they could not afford to block off
whole parts of the city, or even be able to have a track car. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Everything was whittled down to be shorter and
simpler than originally conceived, to stretch the small budget as far as it
could go. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span></span></b><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Third-Wave
Feminism<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">According to Jessica Valenti (2014) Feminism can be
defined as:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="margin-left: 39.0pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">1)<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The belief in the social, political,
and economic equality of all the sex and gender identities within the gendered
spectrum, which incorporates an understanding of standpoint differences based
upon age, race, class, disability, sexual orientation, cultural and religious
ideology.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="margin-left: 39.0pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">2)<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>An organization and socio-political movement
around such a belief.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: 21.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Since 1848, the US Feminist movement
<a href="https://www.vox.com/2018/3/20/16955588/feminism-waves-explained-first-second-third-fourth">has
been organized into “waves”</a>; each with specific goals, achievements,
setbacks, problems, and prominent figures. Currently, there have been four
consecutive waves of feminism, with the possibility of a “<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RFYl2TDM0mo">Fifth Wave” emerging</a>.
During the development and production of <i>Girlfight</i>, feminism had just
recently entered its <a href="https://www.womenshistory.org/exhibits/feminism-third-wave">“Third wave”.</a>
Coined by Rebecca Walker in 1992, due to the outrange felt by many after the
appointment of Clarence Thomas to the Supreme Court after the Anita Hill decision,
Third wave feminism (1989-2010) was known for<b> </b>fighting back the
anti-feminist movement that rose out of the hyper conservative corporate
cultural flavor of 1980’s individualism ( Hyde Amendment, Bombing/ defunding of
abortion clinics, murdering of abortion doctors). The Movement saw many successes:
the Sexual Harassment ban by hostile environment 1986, <a href="https://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/history/minute/year_of_the_woman.htm">the
most women elected to congress at one single time in 1992</a>, The federal ban
against raping your wife 1993, The Family medical leave Act 1993, Violence
against women Act 1994, FGM being made illegal in US in 1997, No Late term
abortions 2003, and the Liddy Ledbetter Act of 2009.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Even with these successes, third
wave feminism was not without its struggles and detractors. Many in the third
wave were weaned on feminism from their second wave parents, it being like
“fluoride in the water” for some of them (Baumgardner and Richards 2000). Because
of this, many in the Third Wave had their brand of activism compared to their
parents; often by their parents themselves. The former chastising the latter
for not being serious enough and taking the struggles and successes of the second
wave for granted. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Because the feminism of the second
wave was ubiquitous for a lot of third wave activists, that as the third wave
began to take shape, there was an active resistance to the term feminism. The
Second Wave had struggled to shake off the gender stereotypes put upon them as <b>only
wives and mothers</b> by showing that they were more than the societal roles
they were assigned. The public responded with the most vile and misogynistic
feminist stereotypes that were also racist and homophobic. This made sure that
anyone who identified as a feminist, the stereotype would henceforth be applied,
and they would be shunned. This made “Feminism” into “the other F word”. Many
in the public actively rejected it regardless of whether their personal
politics aligned or not. Thus, people could spout feminist rhetoric and still
champion women’s rights, but they would always stop short of calling themselves
a “feminist”, often invoking the racist homophobic stereotype(s) as a reason. Many
(usually white) women would go on to declare that they support women’s rights,
and believe in women’s equality, but they would not call themselves a
“Feminist”. Typical reasons would be: “because they love men”, or “aren’t angry
and like to wear dresses”; believing these things to be mutually exclusive, due
to the second wave stereotype. This criticism continued even among feminists. Many
older Second Wave Feminist pushed back against the cis gender presenting
“girlie feminism” of some members of the third wave who embraced the desire to
express a more feminine presenting identity, including the occasional wearing of
make-up and high heels. An image that Second Wave scholars worked so hard to
dispel. It was this unfortunate rejection of feminism in the public
consciousness that allowed it to become popularized and eventually commodified.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Embodied by the glam girl power of the Spice
Girls in the mid 90’s, the popularization of feminism became an unintentional
harbinger of what Andi Zeisler (2016) calls “Marketplace Feminism”. A
consequence of Marxian commodification and cultural assimilation, Marketplace
Feminism is the “celebrity consumer embrace of feminism that positions it as a
cool fun accessible identity that anyone can adopt… [becoming] decontextualized
[and] depoliticized (Zeisler 2016: xiii). This is a product of the
commodification of ideology that allows for the expression of beliefs and
identity to be satisfied through consumerism. No longer do you need to provide
your activist street cred Bona fides; instead, you can just by a t-shirt, tote
bag or water bottle while sharing an Instagram story and retweeting your
favorite Feminist you follow. However, it is important to note that digital
activism and the online feminist communities are not the problem (we wouldn’t <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fourth-wave_feminism">have the fourth wave</a>
without it). Even the popularity of feminism is not the problem. The problem,
is when that ideology and movement becomes absent of historical and political
contexts and a driving force for change ( Zeisler 2016). By combining consumerism
and activism into a single action, feminism and other ideologies are ultimately
weakened. It minimizes the likelihood of active participation in their
respective movement(s). People instead believe that they have done enough
through their consumerist action, which now absolves them of the guilt of just
being a consumerist (Zizek 2009). Being a consumerist and an activist can now be
performed through the same behavior. This causes many people to engage/express
their ideologies in extraordinarily mundane ways, making activism just another activity.
It is the capitalistic transformation of the sacred into the profane (Durkheim
2001, Weber 2019). We have seen this with a variety of protest participants
during the marches of 2016 and 2020, whom either after or before the marches,
had brunch, went shopping, or other leisure activities. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">This was the feminist climate in
which Kusama’s film was both a product of third wave feminism and a foundation
for its subsequent fourth wave. The term “Girlfight”, as Kusama uses it here, is
an evocative reversal of the public use of the term and its derivatives (“chick
fight” etc.), that is far more pejorative, much like the term feminist itself.
The irony not being lost on Kusama, that in her film about a female boxer, the
first fight that we see Diana in at the start of the film is the stereotypical hair
pulling “girlfight”, which, in addition to the juxtaposition of Diana’s skill
level at the end of the film, provides a reimagining of the term once Diana
sets foot in the ring. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">“[Feminists are] just women who don’t want to be treated
like shit. S. U. </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/uAgeCLYnwNg" width="320" youtube-src-id="uAgeCLYnwNg"></iframe></div><br /><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">SOCIAL ANALYSIS </span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></b><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Gender
Socialization of Emotions: Rage <o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Through the gender
socialization of the binary system (the false belief that there are only two
genders based on sex assigned categories) emotions get gendered and erroneously
dichotomized. Through a variety of outlets and mechanisms, boys get the message
that the only emotion that they have access to, for public display, is anger.
Not only is this denying the emotional complexity of boys outright, but it has
the added consequence of teaching boys to filter all their intricate emotions
through the lens of anger. Therefore, boys learn to express love through anger,
fear through anger, confusion through anger etc. And, since that expression of
anger is corporealized through violence, violence becomes masculine and exclusive
to men. Any man who expresses another emotion not through their protective
anger amulet, will be sanctioned, cracking their very fragile masculinity, and
having to rebuild it through violence, sexism, or self-medication (fighting,
sexual conquest, and alcohol consumption, respectively). This also makes any violent
sport exclusively masculine; building an exclusionary culture around it that is
difficult to penetrate. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Meanwhile, women are
allowed to publicly feel and express a variety of different emotions with
little sanction, as long as one of those emotions isn’t anger. Public
expression of anger is so illusive to women that when they feel it, they need
to bury it or deflect it. Otherwise, they will be sanctioned by being called
overly emotional, erratic, psychotic or have men suspiciously blame their anger
on menstruation…every day. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In this
process, women are excluded from the masculine monopoly of violence especially
any activity that produces it, especially Boxing.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Girlfight </span></i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">is
a film that challenges these fraudulent notions of emotional exclusivity while
displaying the difficulty of having to navigate the system and cultural
behaviors that have made this emotional duplicity endemic in our society. At
every turn, Diana hits the wall of sexism. Whether that be when she tries to
get a trainer, a proper sparring partner or a real legitimate match, she is
constantly told what girls are, and therefore what she should be.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This resistance is fueled not only by basic
gender socialization of emotions, but by the symbolic fear of castration. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“The spectacle of women
with power interacting with the spectacle of women deploying guns, filet
knives, lead pipes, and tanks gave the news media chills- and plenty to churn
through, and sell as they both manage and inflamed what, in retrospect, seems
like a national bout of Castration Anxiety” (Douglas 2010:56)</span></i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"> <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">In <i>Girlfight, </i>Adrian is afraid to fight Diana
because of what losing to her would mean, and he tries to back out. Similarly,
Diana’s father is worried how her boxing will negatively affect him. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Power has been defined
and represented through the male body for most of the media’s existence,
defining power in physical strength and emotional stoicism. This has become so
intrinsic to the male identity that it tips the hand of fragile masculinity. It
reveals that Masculinity is not powerful, it is not divine; Instead, it is a
mechanism of social control which teaches cisboys and cismen to deflect,
repress and supplant their fear through violence. Because all Cismen are in a
perpetual state of fear, without the tools to change it, when ciswomen enter a
male space, there is a fear of alienation and usurpation among men. Thus, men
use anger as a destructive force to raze and ruin. This infantile expression illustrates
the perpetual state of arrested development most men find themselves in; using
violence to achieve their selfish desires.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Conversely,
our society does not give women a place for their anger. There is no
institution, faith, or system where they can go to unburden themselves. This is
because anger and rage are so anathematic to the concept of femininity (Lenz
2018). Therefore, women must carve out space for themselves and their anger (as
Diana did with Boxing). When women are able to harness their anger, they, unlike
men, are neither apocryphal nor selfish. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Many women have cultivated and channeled their
anger into activism (Traister 2018). Their outrage becomes nightmare fuel for
the patriarchy, using it to smash the oppressive system into powder, while not
being above violence to achieve that dismantling, and having an emotional
catharsis while doing it. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Diana embodies
this towards the end of <i>Girlfight</i> when she finally stands up to her
drunken father, beats him and expresses her dominance over him. At the end of
the film, Diana finds both a place for her anger (in boxing) and uses it to smash
the patriarchically oppressive yok of her family.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhowfawUgDwdnkK9dyrRl_R28VNcIsMbOrsrxQ-3NcEMH_u1GWZGvJzIRhdBf2xCoiVws1muBLqLCSbYLId39pbWEa02HkYye6jIRgqRTWiTXyCTa0y3iwQV-ZdZMT9_iSsaCvB-jCEkt26Vit2qO8uH-TfizmdzLUm_t2VWhOWCxo5OQX6I3gWSZCs2g/s1620/7_sammy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1076" data-original-width="1620" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhowfawUgDwdnkK9dyrRl_R28VNcIsMbOrsrxQ-3NcEMH_u1GWZGvJzIRhdBf2xCoiVws1muBLqLCSbYLId39pbWEa02HkYye6jIRgqRTWiTXyCTa0y3iwQV-ZdZMT9_iSsaCvB-jCEkt26Vit2qO8uH-TfizmdzLUm_t2VWhOWCxo5OQX6I3gWSZCs2g/w400-h266/7_sammy.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">CONCLUSION<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Karyn
Kusama’s <i>Girlfight </i>is not only a treatise on third wave feminism and the
importance of the harnessing of female rage, but it<i> </i>was also the grand
entrance for Karyn Kusama into the film industry. Beloved by the festival
circuit, this film was either nominated or won all the awards. Between Cannes
and Sundance, Kusama became the indie darling. Despite the film underperforming
at the box office (not making even its modest budget back), Kusama got through
the door, but unfortunately with her next film, <i>Aeon Flux</i>, Kusama got too
far ahead of the audience that was going to judge her. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">REFERENCES <o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; text-indent: -.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Baumgardner,
Jennifer and Amy Richards 2000. <i>Manifesta: Young Women, Feminism and the
Future </i>New York: Farrer, Straus and Giroux <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; text-indent: -.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Douglas,
Susan J. 2010. <i>Enlightened Sexism: The Seductive Message that Feminism’s Work
is Done.</i> New York: Times Books.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; text-indent: -.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Durkheim,
Emile 2001. <i>The Elementary Forms of Religious Life </i>New York: Oxford
University Press<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; text-indent: -.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Lenz,
Lyz 2018. “All the Angry Women” Pp 155-166 In <i>Not That Bad: Dispatches from
Rape Culture </i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>edited by Roxane Gay New
York: Harper Perennial<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; text-indent: -.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Smith,
Dinitia (October 1, 2000). "FILM; Now It's Women's Turn to Make It in the
Ring". The New York Times. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; text-indent: -.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Traister,
Rebecca 2018. <i>Good and Mad: The Revolutionary Power of a Woman’s Anger. </i>New
York: Simon and Schuster <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; text-indent: -.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Valenti,
Jessica 2014. <i>Full Frontal Feminism: A Young Woman’s Guide to Why Feminism
Matters 2<sup>nd</sup>(ed)</i> New York: Seal Press<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; text-indent: -.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Weber,
Max 2019. <i>Economy and Society: A New Translation</i> Massachusetts: Harvard
University Press <i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></i></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; text-indent: -.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Zeisler,
Andi 2016. <i>We were Feminists Once: From Riot Grrl to CoverGirl, the Buying
and Selling of a Political Movement <o:p></o:p></i></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; text-indent: -.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Zizek,
Slavoj 2009. <i>First as Tragedy then as Farce</i> New York: Verso Books <o:p></o:p></span></p><br /><p></p>Brian Brutlaghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08099644007940320266noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8714941782515128558.post-13040414060324904482022-09-01T00:00:00.036-07:002022-09-01T07:15:04.689-07:00The Films of Karyn Kusama: An Introduction<p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7uTzZMPypr7uqUMBCPDdbnkX33beloLxbUvnQGeEc_dtt-UA0V3WOuQ1iWmRevfgnSAIvI4Fj90aRREsU69zMZtGAOy7M60JNRkvsrKd70YphXRtrM41veBPtCfbySHV72lNWnOJQ1OdP0mpMo08sm_TTCyA9NFvimnAdrmJBA9xMW-ySgOglT5BFVg/s699/01.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="699" height="286" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7uTzZMPypr7uqUMBCPDdbnkX33beloLxbUvnQGeEc_dtt-UA0V3WOuQ1iWmRevfgnSAIvI4Fj90aRREsU69zMZtGAOy7M60JNRkvsrKd70YphXRtrM41veBPtCfbySHV72lNWnOJQ1OdP0mpMo08sm_TTCyA9NFvimnAdrmJBA9xMW-ySgOglT5BFVg/w400-h286/01.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">INTRODUCTION</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><a href="https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0476201/">Karyn Kusama</a> is the best modern
living director that general audiences overlook. Consistently, her films or the
work that she is a part of, outright overshadow her own genius. She is a master of shot
composition, storytelling, and a variety of other important filmmaking
techniques. Kusama’s films are beautiful, rich
and vibrant, but also melancholically honest, and gut wrenchingly sad. Everyone
should know the brilliance of Karyn Kusama and elevate her as one of the </span><a href="http://thesociologistsdojo.blogspot.com/2018/12/the-films-of-hayao-miyazaki-introduction.html"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">greatest
Auteurs</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">. To that end, Karyn Kusama is the next subject of my
continual deep dives into </span><a href="https://thesociologistsdojo.blogspot.com/2021/06/the-chambara-films-of-akira-kurosawa.html"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">directors
that I am passionate about</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">. Like those in the </span><a href="https://thesociologistsdojo.blogspot.com/2013/07/the-films-of-christopher-nolan_3.html"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">previous
series</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">, I will be analyzing all of the Films Kusama has
directed, with a bonus essay looking at her TV work and her series </span><a href="https://www.sho.com/yellowjackets"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">Yellowjackets</span></i></a><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">.
</span></i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqQ3HGsZyJlI_2u-2WKF-dlQlXgaNyiCA1dBF0OUgfdjqNbiPaAqQpjCzfMLW-WbnfoZE1YsCJgp7H9PMP1cz0uCYoNXrtjPIrFoVfveNJzfW7EV8uc6JLsp_r_zab2KspkF-S8vJUe6zc0avzzie1KhwVOuMf4t2kzewA8-W8umQoZFrcB3h44tVkUA/s356/200.gif" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="356" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqQ3HGsZyJlI_2u-2WKF-dlQlXgaNyiCA1dBF0OUgfdjqNbiPaAqQpjCzfMLW-WbnfoZE1YsCJgp7H9PMP1cz0uCYoNXrtjPIrFoVfveNJzfW7EV8uc6JLsp_r_zab2KspkF-S8vJUe6zc0avzzie1KhwVOuMf4t2kzewA8-W8umQoZFrcB3h44tVkUA/w400-h225/200.gif" width="400" /></a></div><br /><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">BACKGROUND <o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Born in 1968, Karyn Kusama went on to earn her BFA from
the prestigious NYU school of Tisch school of the Arts. After graduating,
Kusama worked in the industry while crafting ideas for future
projects. However, like a lot of women in the predatory misogynistic industry
of Hollywood, she languished in assistant roles, producing music videos, and
even outside work as a nanny way longer than the typical sexist dog whistle of
“paying your dues” is believable. It was 8 years before she was able to make
her first feature, and even with each success, she was given fewer chances to
direct features and through the mid-2010’s through the early 2020’s
was a director for hire on Premium TV, before producing <i>Yellowjackets </i>for
Showtime.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Kusama
is the first director that I will be covering that does not write, produce,
and direct all of their own work. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Yet,
this is not due to Kusama’s lack of skill and talent, but rather another
example of the way this industry punishes women.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Many women, Kusama included, often take “for
hire” directing jobs just to be able to live, and fund other passionate
projects they may be interested in. Kusama seemed to do this in between each of
her feature films.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>More broadly, this
speaks to the systemic sexism of Hollywood that not only sees women (and women
behind the camera) as a niche market, giving women in these roles minimal chances
to succeed, and even fewer when the film underperforms.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>A
perfect illustration of this sexist double standard is comparing Kusama’s
trajectory with one of her contemporaries, <a href="https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0027271/">Paul W. S. Anderson</a>.<a href="https://d.docs.live.net/bb5a620476910e43/Documents/Sociologists%20Dojo/The%20Films%20of%20Karyn%20Kusama%20An%20Introduction%20.docx#_ftn1" name="_ftnref1" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn1;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[1]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Anderson first came on the scene in 1994 with
the independent film <i>Shopping</i>, which is only remembered for being Jude
Law’s first feature. He then graduates to directing bigger budget films that
performed well (<i>Mortal Kombat, Event Horizon, and Soldier)</i> allowing him
to write and direct <i>The Resident Evil Franchise </i>and <i>AVP: Alien vs,
Predator </i>both of which were critically panned but modestly made money. Anderson
failed upwards as he continued to subject film going audiences to mountains of
cinematic trash (the worst being <i>Three Musketeers </i>and <i>Pompeii) </i>each
with diminishing box office returns and no positive critical buzz. Yet, after
the deathly eruption that was <i>Pompeii</i>, Anderson was still allowed to write,
produce, and direct both the final installment of the <i>Resident Evil</i> series and another
video game adaptation: <i>Monster Hunter, </i>in 2020. His feature film director
credits are double that of Karen Kusama’s despite being of relative same age and
starting in the industry at the same time. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">Meanwhile, after she
exploded on the scene with <i>Girlfight, </i>Kusama got swept in the under tow
of cinematic sexism when her second film, the underrated <i>Aeon Flux, </i>was taken away from her by studio executives who recut the film. They changed characters and storylines (believing Kusama’s vision was too much of an art
film) and after it flopped, blamed Kusama for the film's poor box office performance sending
her to <a href="https://www.gawker.com/5411923/the-rules-of-director-jail">“director
jail</a>”; an industry punishment which is <a href="https://www.indiewire.com/2016/03/amy-heckerling-explains-how-director-jail-is-different-for-men-and-women-60182/">absolutely
gendered</a> and keeps women exclusively <a href="https://decider.com/2018/02/27/women-in-director-jail/">out of the Director’s
chair. </a><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Kusama stayed there for 3
years before Diablo Cody’s next project post <i>Juno</i> fame, <i>Jennifer’s
Body,</i> released her. Unfortunately, because of poor marketing and audiences not
being ready for such a complex story of female relationships (it has a cult
following today), that release from “director jail” was short lived, and Kusama
had to do another 6-year stint.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Her Next
feature, 2015’s <i>The Invitation </i>was only released in a limited number of
theaters and for rent or purchase online. This was at a time before the
cultural shift of streaming, and was considered a death sentence for the
film.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was only by the sheer critical acclaim of
the film that allowed Kusama to make her final feature, as of this writing, <i>Destroyer</i>
in 2018<i>.</i> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">The poor box office was
always cited as the most criminal offense for Kusama’s directorial
incarceration, thereby creating barriers to making features: slashing budgets,
lack of final cut, more studio interference etc. Yet, when directors like Paul
W S. Anderson, and a whole cavalcade of other douchebag white men with a fraction
of the talent and twice the ego fail a lot harder, they are given three times
the number of chances.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Is it any wonder that the
majority of Kusama’s films have feminist themes and largely center on women and
their relationships with others? <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/g4iDPDf3_fs" width="320" youtube-src-id="g4iDPDf3_fs"></iframe></div><br /><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">THEMES<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span></span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">Most
of Karyn Kusama’s films have a female protagonist and organize around women’s
relationships especially with other women.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Because of this, my forthcoming analysis of each film (plus the bonus
essay on Season 1 of <i>Yellowjackets</i>) will be heavily influenced by feminist
scholarship by Roxane Gay, Adrienne Rich, Judith Butler, RW Connell, Andi Zeisler
and bell hooks; a long with other scholars along the way. What I find intriguing,
that I will explore more in future essays, is the stripping away of the
conventions of gender socialization that Kusama loves to do, complicating her
characters by breaking the stereotypes while still having her characters cling
to them.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Additionally,
the way that Kusama paints with adept precision the complexity and subtle variations
of grief, loss, and existential dread through the prism of a female prospective
is sublime. Many of Kusama’s protagonists are not likable, nor should you root
for them, but they are all compelling. Here Kusama is breaking a convention of
Hollywood at the same time: that women, to be interesting, must embrace the female
stereotypes, or present their emotions in a masculine way. Kusama’s films give
you a beautiful cornucopia of female perspectives and expressions that change
as the experiences of the film shape them and their decisions. None of the
women in her stories escape unscathed and it is the wrestling with these ideas
in the complex way that make her films exquisite.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYNR7gKMQi2w1v7uCvURSst1Z0QMhitAfW9HwYSuLuGrSPEK0mYGHTeoCqLH1IivSgPe-kRXuMkRGi9Sw5Ax-AMfph0yGbiDEBE6oUmqGrSIRKH_iZq8VTcIqjUUOKYlWkP7BEwAT2Kan9pFXCY1LTnIfXxhJyLJVQ15Sp1Mu2YokMTohSViUBX8c8pg/s2048/1573860147-jessica-from-chicago-parasite-0-35-screenshot.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1365" data-original-width="2048" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYNR7gKMQi2w1v7uCvURSst1Z0QMhitAfW9HwYSuLuGrSPEK0mYGHTeoCqLH1IivSgPe-kRXuMkRGi9Sw5Ax-AMfph0yGbiDEBE6oUmqGrSIRKH_iZq8VTcIqjUUOKYlWkP7BEwAT2Kan9pFXCY1LTnIfXxhJyLJVQ15Sp1Mu2YokMTohSViUBX8c8pg/w400-h266/1573860147-jessica-from-chicago-parasite-0-35-screenshot.png" width="400" /></a></div><br /><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">CONCLUSION <o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>To my
shame, Karyn Kusama was one of my first “puzzle piece” directors whose work I
fell in love with. By “puzzle piece” director I mean that I fell in love with Kusama’s
films independently prior to knowing that they were all directed by the same
person. But once I put the puzzle pieces of her films together, I found a
brilliant auteur whose work I always anticipate<a href="https://d.docs.live.net/bb5a620476910e43/Documents/Sociologists%20Dojo/The%20Films%20of%20Karyn%20Kusama%20An%20Introduction%20.docx#_ftn2" name="_ftnref2" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn2;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[2]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is my hope, that through this series, and
my analysis, you will not only be introduced to and come to appreciate Kusama’s
work, but also see the Sociological and Feminist relevance in her storytelling.
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<div style="mso-element: footnote-list;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><br clear="all" />
<hr align="left" size="1" width="33%" />
<!--[endif]-->
<div id="ftn1" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<p class="MsoFootnoteText"><a href="https://d.docs.live.net/bb5a620476910e43/Documents/Sociologists%20Dojo/The%20Films%20of%20Karyn%20Kusama%20An%20Introduction%20.docx#_ftnref1" name="_ftn1" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn1;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[1]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
Not to be confused by Paul Thomas Anderson Who has also jumped off a cliff with
his recent film <i>Licorice Pizza <o:p></o:p></i></p>
</div>
<div id="ftn2" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<p class="MsoFootnoteText"><a href="https://d.docs.live.net/bb5a620476910e43/Documents/Sociologists%20Dojo/The%20Films%20of%20Karyn%20Kusama%20An%20Introduction%20.docx#_ftnref2" name="_ftn2" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn2;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[2]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a> I
am extremely bummed that she had creative differences and left her recent
Dracula project called <i>Mina Harker <o:p></o:p></i></p>
</div>
</div><br /><p></p>Brian Brutlaghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08099644007940320266noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8714941782515128558.post-92166647834715131852022-08-01T00:00:00.083-07:002022-08-01T00:00:00.165-07:00Police, 'The Punisher', and Performative Masculinity <p> </p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5ZCDeWeGS242fnJGJBTY-t39cbHi2x44l6IMmOhgwrNx4zuZTTzarPYaR1B51w_g2JW2O66oTHJDh-o4Bt-m66G2bhxNvOJD35PYy0-ruwBsNBfgU31GpIheSCC-_BLsLmWZ6rtajYGmb3zTHK4TKmXuGJVQqF8Tq5hhZaUR-TRjYpwB35Tu4lIlVng/s1024/B9lSVCGIAAM7LCK.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="577" data-original-width="1024" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5ZCDeWeGS242fnJGJBTY-t39cbHi2x44l6IMmOhgwrNx4zuZTTzarPYaR1B51w_g2JW2O66oTHJDh-o4Bt-m66G2bhxNvOJD35PYy0-ruwBsNBfgU31GpIheSCC-_BLsLmWZ6rtajYGmb3zTHK4TKmXuGJVQqF8Tq5hhZaUR-TRjYpwB35Tu4lIlVng/w400-h225/B9lSVCGIAAM7LCK.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><p style="text-align: center;"><br /></p><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">In Sociology, it is
uncontested that gender is a social construction. The value that we place in
the various and complex categories of gender are socially, historically, and
culturally specific. What is often a point of discussion is the relationship
between the social construction of gender and how that gender is performed:
what counts, what doesn’t, what behaviors are a reinforcement, and which are
utter failures.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Using the theoretical
model of Sarah Crowley’s “Gender Feedback Loop” and the notion of
performativity, this paper shall extend that conversation by adding the
influence of pop culture onto the learning of gender and its execution. Through
an analysis of American masculinity, its reverence for violent vigilantes like
The Punisher, and its often-tragic outcomes, this study challenges performative
masculinity as nothing more than a pro-capitalist violent fantasy, installed as
another bureaucratic mechanism of social control.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK <o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">As I</span><a href="http://thesociologistsdojo.blogspot.com/2022/07/when-gender-socializationmet-romantic.html"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">
stated in a previous essay:</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"> Crawley, Foley and Shehan (2008)’s <i>Gender
Feedback Loop:</i><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“is a mechanism of
surveillance, social control, disciplining behaviors, and ideas of the
self.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The general <b>messages</b> that
girls and women receive is then internalized in them<b>selves</b> through the
cultivation of a gender self-identity. Then, the expression of that identity is
carried out on their <b>bodies</b> which then become messages for others. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><b>Messages </b>to <b>Selves to Bodies </b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%;">This general process is common regardless of the level
of restriction a system imposes. However, in a restrictive gendered system like
we have in the US, the messages, selves, and bodies require daily affirmations
and confirmations at each stage. Each of the “messages” require conformation
that they are being properly given, the “selves” require confirmation that they
have been properly received, and the “bodies” are policed to maintain “correct”
expression based upon the system its reinforcing. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is a panoptical surveillance that sees
this body expression as passive; docile gender bodies (Foucault 1990). The
Foucauldian “bio power” envelops this loop defining the ways that the body is
considered “normal” by the way it expresses gender. The surveillance of
womanhood begins at birth and includes every woman’s behavior (Crawley et al
2008: 93). Girls and women are called upon to cut, pluck, pull, wax, fast, and
kill themselves into a “perfect” body. To accept the creation of masculine
social bonds through their objectification and violation, girls and women
promote masculine power for economic, social, and political stability. Women
are required through this surveillance to actively practice femininity through
what they do, how people respond to them, and how they respond back. They
cannot just be “not men”, they are required by the system to “become their own
jailers.” (Crawley et al 2008).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Girls
get acquainted with this Prison and self-sanctioning at a very young age.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">This
feedback loop process is not just designed to police women’s bodies, but all
bodies along the gender expression spectrum. Even though ciswomen are often
policed in a more directly aggressive form, cismen too are policed, albeit in a
more indirect way.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Throughout the process of
social learning, and the lens of our white supremacist capitalist able-bodied
heteronormative patriarchy, cismen and women get the messages that the value of
men is intrinsic to our society. It is not what [they] do, it is that they do
it. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“In short, the characteristics of
the powerful, whatever they may be, are thought to be better than the
characteristics of the powerless.” (Steinem 2019: 1). Since cismen hold power
in our society, the value of cismen is rooted in the biological validation of their
personhood, as is, without social, cultural, or historical context. Cismen are <b>just
men</b> (which is part of the normalization through invisibility). Yet, because
there is a tacit acceptance to the high value of men in our society, both the
regulation and expression of masculinity is narrow and harsh.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Whereas cisgender women are allowed greater
flexibility in doing behaviors and action that are considered masculine (as
long as they still retain their broader sex appeal to cismen), cisgendered men
have a narrower range of behaviors, actions, and language to reaffirm and
strengthen their masculinity.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This
narrow range of behavior is coalesced into a “tough guise” that boys and men have
to create (usually through aggression, violence, sexual exploitation and
alcohol consumption) in order to hide their human complexity and vulnerability (Katz,
2013). <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">As with cisgender women
in “The Gender Feedback loop”, cismen are heavily policed for their actions, inactions,
and behaviors within this veneer of masculinity. A part of this “guise”, is
narrowing the ability of cisgender men to be able to express their own complex
emotions. Because anger and aggression have been masculinized in our US culture,
this becomes the primary emotion by which men express and interact with the
world. Almost every masculine cultural and social norm, especially when
expressing intimacy around other cismen, has to be filtered through their
singular masculine emotion of anger. Therefore, a variety of intimate and
joyful expressions men display, also have a violent or aggressive component to
it. Cismen are taught to express all of their complex emotions through a
singular avenue: Anger. They are taught to express love, through anger, joy, through
anger, fear, through anger, jealousy, through anger etc. This reinforces the systemic
misogyny <a href="https://su.sheffield.ac.uk/advice-and-support/health-wellbeing/estrc">of
The Rape Culture</a> by normalizing sexual coercion and verbal, emotional, psychological,
and physical violence as the “natural state of men”, rather than a toxic and
dangerous system that is deadly to everyone involved.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Additionally, it is this
masculine emotional truncation which severely inhibits cismen from being their
full and complete emotional selves, keeping them from understanding and
embracing the full intricacies of human emotions. Because men are socialized
away from human emotions not culturally identified as masculine, or only
learning to express those emotions through a masculine prism, any behavior is <b>only
</b>seen through that lens. This cismale emotional conditioning becomes an issue
in the developing of relationships (platonic or romantic) with cisgendered
women. A common complication that arises from this is a lot of cisgendered
men’s inability to recognize general human compassion. Since men are socialized
to see the world through this masculine “tough guise”, any amount of compassion
shown to them, especially from cisgendered women, is misinterpreted as romantic,
or more likely, sexual interest in them (Walker 2020). Cismen repeatedly and erroneously
identify cis female emotional support: praise, attention, and validation as
intimacy; while ciswomen simply understand this as kindness deserved of all
humans (Walker 2020: 80-81). <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is this,
and a series of other misinterpretations/ miscommunications that not only
reinforces the rape culture but evidences the inhumanity of performative masculinity.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center; text-indent: 0.5in;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_sozLm3m-KgPmeytiarXqkB5YBL33JwgWj65-wuCzJq20dEVsKo56M4MrL7QMcfvA0oCyEewX0JeH5qYwFf7DuUCUVoelKjxXkSIMaGAmQkBCbaPkYqqfZ7NHHlf26uxpNoNw0B8pmBgH35Lom_xZOwGgBJedjHW411kABNVboSDZocGcbRf7ftYIZg/s679/hinumg7e8udw9fzomqs0.webp" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="679" data-original-width="500" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_sozLm3m-KgPmeytiarXqkB5YBL33JwgWj65-wuCzJq20dEVsKo56M4MrL7QMcfvA0oCyEewX0JeH5qYwFf7DuUCUVoelKjxXkSIMaGAmQkBCbaPkYqqfZ7NHHlf26uxpNoNw0B8pmBgH35Lom_xZOwGgBJedjHW411kABNVboSDZocGcbRf7ftYIZg/w295-h400/hinumg7e8udw9fzomqs0.webp" width="295" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Gender Performativity <o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">One of the core Sociological
understandings of gender is that Gender is not something that anyone has. Rather,
it is something that is actively created, a routine accomplishment through an
elaborate gender performance that includes clothing, hair style, language,
mannerisms, and the following of cultural and social norms (Butler 1999).
Regardless of one’s definition and understanding of gender (binary or spectrum models)
we are all socialized to perform a gender identity. The difference is that
based upon how narrow or broad the definition of gender being used, determines
the amount, type, and intensity of the sanctions against individuals that
deviate their performance away from the sex assigned categories they were given
at birth.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>An understanding of the gender
spectrum allows for the existence of a variety of diverse gender performances a
lot easier than a binary model, which is often more rigid in its acceptable
performances, only legitimating those gender performances that reflect societal
sex assigned categories. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The Surveillance and Accountability
sanctions of “The Gender Feedback loop” are the societal pressures that
maintain a certain limited (usually binary) understanding of gender which not
only reproduces the exclusionary, basic, and incorrect understanding of gender
with each subsequent generation, but it also makes us our own jailers. From the
everyday confirmations or sanctioning of gender in interactions, to the institutional
systemic control through regulation and surveillance, it is all about gender
conformity; the conformation to the definition of gender that a society has
accepted. Therefore, if we all accepted a gender spectrum model of
understanding gender, your gender would be whatever you put on in the morning
without sanction or appeal from anyone else. Unfortunately, most of our
institutions have normalized and accepted the binary model, which puts many
sanctions in place to reaffirm it.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The reaffirmation of
gender happens through the societal acceptance of how we present our bodies out
in the world (Crawley et al 2008). Since we, as people, exist within a society
governed by cultural and social norms, we are representative of our culture by
our simple existence in it. We are walking cultural advertisements, billboards
for everything, including gender. Thus, our bodies become a reflection of
acceptable cultural ideas, and if those bodies are regulated, cut, incarcerated,
or eliminated, then the undesirable message for certain gender expressions
becomes clear. This is more potent the further away the body display and expression
is from what is considered acceptable. In this context, gender is not just
something that we “do” through an elaborate performance, <b>gender is something
others do to us.</b> Whether that is keeping us in a closet or forcing us to live
in a skin we despise, this gender assault is all about Power.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Masculinity, Power
Dynamics, and “Aggrieved Entitlement” <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Crawley et al (2008),
Butler (1999) and countless other scholars have shown us that we live in a
gendered society. While the necessity of the gendering has solidly been put
into question, it is still something we wrestle with constantly. This is
predominantly because of the way that we have gendered the idea of Power, and
the systemic valorization of maleness and masculinity within all social
institutions, especially those that dispense power (Government, Military
Economy). We think of and define power in very masculine ways, using adjectives
that have only been given a masculine context. This not only normalizes the idea
of power as masculine but forces other non-masculine, nonbinary individuals to
use the masculine language of power to describe something that has no gender. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">We double down on the
gendering of power through the bureaucratic mechanism of social organization.
According to Weber (2019), a bureaucratic social order is designed from a
Bureaucratic rational authority that seemingly gives people access to power
(through a contrived methodology of convoluted alienation) and treats everyone
the same (regardless of access to resources and opportunities). Because we
culturally value maleness and the performance of masculinity in our culture,
the avenues to power and the egalitarian effervescence bureaucracy touts, is
predicated on how close an individual can perform and express the desired masculinity.
This is the formation of the patriarchy as a social order; one that harms men in
uniquely specific ways. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Most people, regardless
of gender, begin to learn these gender messages and the “legitimate pathways”
to social gender acceptance through the social learning process of
socialization. Gender socialization is specifically where individuals learn
which gender model their society supports through the cultural and social norms
that they receive. Yet, what is often lost when discussing gender socialization
is the basic tenet of socialization itself; it is a mechanism of social
control. Through this particular lens, we see the hypocrisy of a lot of the
gender messages that cismen receive throughout the life-course. Sure, they are
valued for their innate assigned “maleness”, but the limited expression of that
identity intentionally makes masculinity fragile; able to be revoked or
reissued at a moment’s notice for any behavior, in any context, at any time. Men
are then forced to have to constantly aspire to validate their maleness through
their behaviors, decisions, and language; effectively “chasing” after their
masculinity (Walker 2020). The result is that men constantly check themselves,
or are checked by others (cismen, and ciswomen) cultivating an internalized
insecurity that is weaponized by the bureaucracy, in all its institutions, to
maintain the social order.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">One specific way this
insecurity is weaponized is through the Provider/reward model. Within a
bureaucratically organized gender binary system, the acceptable male/masculine
gender performances are so acutely defined, that it cultivates the unique
consequence of enculturating men to a false consciousness of success.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Men, cismen specifically, assume that if they
follow all, or most of the masculine scripts, that they will be rewarded with
prosperity and happiness.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">According to Kimmel
(2013):<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Most American men live
within a system in which they were promised a lot of rewards if they played by
the rules. If they were good, decent, hardworking men, if they saddled up, or
even more accurately, got into the harness themselves, they would feel the
respect of their wives and children; if they fought in America’s wars, served
their country fighting fires and stopping crime they would have the respect of
their communities. And, most important, if they were loyal to their colleagues,
and workmates, did an honest days work for an honest days pay then they’d also
have the respect of other men <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(26-27).<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">One of Kimmel’s (2013)
interviewees sums it up like this:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“Look, I thought if I did
it right, did everything they asked of me, I’d be ok, you know? Play ball and
you’d get rich, you’d get laid<a href="https://d.docs.live.net/bb5a620476910e43/Documents/Sociologists%20Dojo/Police%5eJ%20the%20Punisher%5eJ%20and%20Performative%20Masculinity%20.docx#_ftn1" name="_ftnref1" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn1;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[1]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>…And now you’re telling me,
“Sorry, but you aren’t going to get all of those rewards”…I<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>wouldn’t have done it if I knew I wouldn’t
get those goodies. How can [Society] take it away from us? We earned it! We
paid our dues! We did everything [Society] told us, and now you’re saying that
we aren’t getting the big payoff?...It all seems unfair (p 27) <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">What this man is expressing is a sense of “aggrieved
entitlement”, a sense of entitlement that can no longer be assumed and that is
unlikely to be fulfilled” (Kimmel 2013: xiv). Recently, this has been
weaponized in the government to manifest and push forward a far-right political
agenda fueled by white cismale fragility.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Yet, this dangling promise of this “bid time return” where cismen are given
what they believe they are owed, is a duplicitous scheme to keep cismen in a
state of false consciousness, wrapped up in their fragilely masculine,
emotionally stunted prison of aggrievedly entitled insecurities. These men are
thereby convinced that masculinity can be achieved, (and they can be rewarded) by
the performativity of empty rituals and toxic interpersonal behavior that has
no societal benefit other than the maintenance of the gendered status quo and
imbalance of social power. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><br /></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg28ltWL6AAjbwQcvUZI3zqzn2Fifjp9OsPBLm2-vsmjdA-sLHRF23rECi--LTqtoswxjfmp-FLPQHfBIGevb5ZxCROKOdbH1XzLsykZleHDgLvfTJ4zJU6Tzh9x0f6kC3QX_02CBGvUGHcFwSf07SM4bKWivFw_HBMj95oslc1u9XiiMOSwS-PGeieuA/s600/what-is-criminal-justice-974588-v31-5c115210c9e77c00013ae766.webp" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="445" data-original-width="600" height="296" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg28ltWL6AAjbwQcvUZI3zqzn2Fifjp9OsPBLm2-vsmjdA-sLHRF23rECi--LTqtoswxjfmp-FLPQHfBIGevb5ZxCROKOdbH1XzLsykZleHDgLvfTJ4zJU6Tzh9x0f6kC3QX_02CBGvUGHcFwSf07SM4bKWivFw_HBMj95oslc1u9XiiMOSwS-PGeieuA/w400-h296/what-is-criminal-justice-974588-v31-5c115210c9e77c00013ae766.webp" width="400" /></a></div><br /><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The Cult of Masculinity <o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The
sense of aggrieved entitlement that cismen often feel, centers around not just the
feeling of not being given what they were promised, but that they were somehow
duped; and because the world has told them that they are valued and important
since the time they were born (general message of gender socialization), this <b>feels
</b>like injustice.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is not
injustice. But it is against their oath in the cult of masculinity: The Guy
Code, the collection of attitudes values and traits that together composes what
it means to be a man (Kimmel 2008:45). <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">A repudiation of the Feminine (or anything
that seems “weak”)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Success is measured in wealth, power, and
status <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Strength is measured by stoic inertia. (being
the proverbial rock)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Exude an aura of daring aggression <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Much of this “guy code” validates itself by
reaffirming narrow and tired gender stereotypes that are reinforcing a binary
understanding of gender and the white supremacist heteronormative ableist
capitalist patriarchy. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Additionally,
men who follow the code, and actively work to shed themselves of typical human
emotions by stripping away their emotional complexity, and shredding their
senses of compassion and empathy, feel that they have sacrificed. Admittedly,
they do not often attribute the feelings of disappointment, sacrifice, and
entitlement to their elected loss of emotional complexity and a lack of caring.
They decide instead, through a plethora of scapegoats, to blame cis women,
Trans and Nonbinary people, Black people, Latinx folks, and anyone else whose
success and happiness is thought to be at the expense of White cismen.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Yet, other marginalized groups achieving/exercising
their rights, and gaining status and power for themselves does not hurt White cismen.
Our masculinity is the problem.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Regardless
of if boys and men follow the code or not, they still must deal with it every
single day. Through constant sanctions and surveillance, boys’ masculinity is
heavily policed in social interactions, from friends and relatives to strangers
of any gender. If they are not going to come into the fold, and under the thumb
of “The Guy Code” then they must actively resist it. Unfortunately, this active
resistance has created toxic masculinity variants of this code, rather than an
acceptance of gender neutral and more fluid behaviors. One such alternate are
Incels (Involuntarily celibate) or “Beta male” ideology that often places more
value on intelligence and courtesy. Because they believe they are morally and
intellectually superior to their “alpha” counterparts, they justify their
masculine entitlement to women by convincing themselves they are better people,
rather than just a different flavor of misogyny. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As I wrote in an </span><a href="http://thesociologistsdojo.blogspot.com/2018/10/mandy-review.html"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">essay
in 2018</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%;">[Incel/Beta male] ideology sees women’s bodies as
products that they pay for with dinners, vacations, clothing etc. So, from this
perspective, if these men provide material goods for women, then they should
have access to their bodies.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They
believe that if they are nice to women and are “supreme gentlemen”, then they
have claim to them. Often “Incel” men frequent predominantly online spaces like
4chan and reddit from which this isolated subculture has developed this new
warped sense of toxic masculinity that is both fragile (able to be
deconstructed with the slightest slip up) and preyed upon by our veracious
capitalism.[5] The result of which is a group of emboldened misogynists whose
lack of “sexual conquest” of women they believe is due to feminism.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In their mind, feminism is a movement that
hates men; and that any feminist progress is one that hurts men’s sexual access
to women.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Thus, when their masculinity
is shattered by women being able to have free and equal choice, these men have
lashed out violently due to the imagined slights by women that they have
perceived.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Accept it, reject it, or mutate it, masculinity is a force
in all people’s lives: individually, communally, and institutionally. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The voracity with which people fight for, or
against it, becomes reminiscent of religious belief.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Sociologically,
a cult is understood as an informal and transient type of religious
organization or movement usually distinguished from other forms of religious
organization by its (usual) deviation from the dominant orthodoxies within the
communities in which it operates…combining elements of various religions,
focusing their allegiance on specific inspirational and charismatic leaders/characters
arising in mass during period of social unrest or change (Jary and Jary 1991:
98).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Masculinity has been
built as a cult. It’s codes, rituals, evangelizing of figures/leaders are the
blatant power language of bureaucratic social institutions; allowing
masculinity to take hold and root in every aspect of our social apparatus, so
that all institutions, especially the powerful ones, can entice, recruit, and convince
individuals into accepting masculinity as their religion, whether that be by actual
membership (cismen) or by association (ciswomen through patriarchal bargaining).
Each of these institutions promotes and supports the growth of masculinity in
various ways: whether that be the lobbying for the support of irrational gun ownership
legislation (because Guns are coded masculine), the elimination of reproductive
rights for anyone with a uterus, (men need to secure their legacy through
children) restrictions on funding for non-STEM education, to the support of
capitalism during a health crisis. All these actions are in place to validate
masculinity.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">However, the validation
of masculinity through these institutions is only maintained at the macro
level. The cultish system of masculinity makes sure that individual’s grasp of,
and valorizing for achieving masculinity is left tenuous. For the purposes of social
control, Masculinity remains elusive and fragile for most men. Hard to catch,
difficult to keep. Because the conditions of masculinity are vague and dynamic,
men spend most of their time performing masculinity rather than being able to
achieve it. Masculinity becomes a motivational tool for cismen to exist within
the world, rather than something that is a part of them. Thus, <b><u>Men drape themselves
in the costume of masculinity in order to hide their insecurities, emotional
trauma that following such a cult has caused; to the benefit of no one except
the institutions that peddle it </u></b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><br /></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilW5EFeRRXQnqrBOy-YxIsQddH1iAIlnvwA4FWJWIUAlt2wnSVl0vtzDXh8D7RE9ZY4YP3I0JnxTRGZFD391gcK4I7soj1E3Ne8WNh5wR9CTlZbv2YwP8xGFK3ZjPWif-dQ2BclYnxKcA1-JQfue6G_RqB6esMneA7e13OIXR0BmWkbuhqOXftHuZ6og/s2560/9f3ddff55bafb36c2d8017685778294c.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1433" data-original-width="2560" height="224" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilW5EFeRRXQnqrBOy-YxIsQddH1iAIlnvwA4FWJWIUAlt2wnSVl0vtzDXh8D7RE9ZY4YP3I0JnxTRGZFD391gcK4I7soj1E3Ne8WNh5wR9CTlZbv2YwP8xGFK3ZjPWif-dQ2BclYnxKcA1-JQfue6G_RqB6esMneA7e13OIXR0BmWkbuhqOXftHuZ6og/w400-h224/9f3ddff55bafb36c2d8017685778294c.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">CASE STUDY: THE PUNISHER AND THE UVALDE
POLICE DEPT. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Basics<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">On May 24 2022, a gunmen entered </span><a href="https://www.npr.org/series/1101183663/uvalde-elementary-school-shooting"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Robb
Elementary school unimpeded, with an AR style rifle</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">.
He shut himself in two adjoining classrooms and was not engaged with for over
an hour. In that time, the shooter was able to kill 19 children and 2 teachers.
Off duty border patrol agents bypassed the local police, entered the room, and killed
the suspect.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In the intervening hour
plus, when the gunman was not engaged, the Uvalde police department cordoned
off the area, kept civilian parents back from entering the building to rescue
their children, and then waited for more personnel, and military style weapons,
before the breach was made. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">A Failure to act, and a successful
performance? </span></i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The
Uvalde police department has been rightfully criticized for their actions on
nearly every level. They actively went against the training they’d been given
on how to deal with an active shooter thereby costing more lives. One
particularly damning piece of evidence is a hallway video where police waited
for over 60 minutes, getting hand sanitizer, fist bumping each other, and
checking their phones, while gunfire could be heard along with the screams of
children.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The police failed, the training
failed, the “good guy with a gun” ethos failed, and masculinity failed. Yet, all
these things will survive, and the cult of Masculinity will rise, strengthen,
and spread. Because, regardless of the outcome, (no matter whose life is lost
in the process) the expression of masculinity in a patriarchal system <b><u>is about
control. It is a label assigned to individuals based upon superficial performances,
platitudes, and language that they use. Masculinity is a costume; a security
blanket used to seek acceptance; daily affirmations that convince men they are
worthy and that they matter, only to keep them functioning in the larger
bureaucratic machine. <o:p></o:p></u></b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><b><u><br /></u></b></span></p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/iCPYKEPC5CI" width="320" youtube-src-id="iCPYKEPC5CI"></iframe></div><br /><p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i><u><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The Soft Power impact of Pop Culture on Masculinity
and Police<o:p></o:p></span></u></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Since
the late 1970’s, there has been a wave of examples of films depicting Lone Wolf
Police or military individuals that break from the system to fight “the bad
guys”, whether they be battling space aliens, or terrorists, sans shoes. These
films became the cornerstone of US masculinity. These men had no armor, nor
back up…just their muscles, and a gun. This began to connect the ideas of
vigilante justice with expressions of Masculinity that would later be
weaponized by Police and the military through various forms of warrior style training
(Stahl 2009).<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This collusion between pop culture and the
military, is a part of the Military Entertainment Complex <a href="https://d.docs.live.net/bb5a620476910e43/Documents/Sociologists%20Dojo/Police%5eJ%20the%20Punisher%5eJ%20and%20Performative%20Masculinity%20.docx#_ftn2" name="_ftnref2" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn2;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[2]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Playfully referred to as “Militainment”, this
is a part of the larger Military Industrial complex in which Hollywood films,
television, and video games, are supported by the military (giving them access
to military style weapons, gear, and tactics; thereby lowering their production
budgets) in exchange for a favorable image of police and the military in the
final product, to boost recruitment. This becomes even more salient since the
advent of pilotless drone warfare have allowed video games to simulate the verisimilitude
of actual war.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Additionally,
since the majority of this ‘militainment’ content is gendered and marketed
almost exclusively to boys and men, they also shape the gender socialization of
boys to be soldiers, providers, and protectors.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>‘Militainment’ is also masculine entertainment, where all of the
masculine gender norms are reinforced with a glossy sheen of popularized militarized
violence on top, without any liability…because it is a fantasy.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/q0SoYYz_KrQ" width="320" youtube-src-id="q0SoYYz_KrQ"></iframe></div><br /><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The Punisher: Fantasy in
a Flak jacket <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">One of these icons of
masculine ‘Militainment’ is Marvel comics’ Frank Castle: The Punisher. A
military veteran (Vietnam or Afghanistan depending on the comics run) who
witnesses the death of his family in Central Park due to mob violence. Unable
to deal with his grief, Castle vows a one-man war on criminality, murdering his
victims. In most of the depictions of the Punisher (outside of the Warren Ellis
run), Frank Castle is just a man with a certain set of (masculinely violent) skills,
and strong brand marketing (His costume is a t-shirt with a huge white skull on
it). Castle has no superpowers, just himself, his resiliency, and a gun. The
Punisher gets </span><a href="https://news.artnet.com/art-world/punisher-black-lives-matter-1883013"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">embraced
by the police</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"> and the military because, much like the
militainment films of the 80’s featuring Schwarzenegger and Stallone, Castle doles
out vigilante justice; often without consequence, remorse, <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>or accountability. This is what a lot of men
are socialized to desire, power: the ability to do what you want even when
others resist. Even though the creator of the </span><a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/lisettevoytko/2020/06/11/the-creator-of-the-punisher-wants-to-reclaim-the-iconic-skull-from-police-and-fringe-admirers/?sh=27f7571cb434"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Punisher
has stated that the character is misinterpreted</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">;
and should be seen as a failure of law and order; through Castle’s
masculinization and marketing, many cismen embrace him as the opposite; as the
True Justice of Masculinity. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><br /></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><br /></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqlrJCo7vrP7kQ1RWackAaSSAzkasg42662htZOUYXeEYPsy3EguBVtNfD1lo8LKqVyrM57CKc42sIOz_W8_AynnNjjIUisqZjONfJAJy6Qry1iqrfbHK7ieDAOzVk_HTtW3Xi9kJU1Am7IgDC3246MGr_WX8OKcJ0JBrTYIbyn_KlMEWqc9y7giT85g/s680/7_sammy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="680" data-original-width="382" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqlrJCo7vrP7kQ1RWackAaSSAzkasg42662htZOUYXeEYPsy3EguBVtNfD1lo8LKqVyrM57CKc42sIOz_W8_AynnNjjIUisqZjONfJAJy6Qry1iqrfbHK7ieDAOzVk_HTtW3Xi9kJU1Am7IgDC3246MGr_WX8OKcJ0JBrTYIbyn_KlMEWqc9y7giT85g/s320/7_sammy.jpg" width="180" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijb_J8RwxA3dj1_uWQ93MdIfOLTsi35NZRj0n6aQN7rBT7Jg4d8Gm9y8JtDPKhpj_8oLk9v5LgbiWLbC61GEIdrC4j0g-xWS3LRTMfF8-5Avc-s3-Eh7t6XdDOC8POLBwKX8K3m68eR6xqLTh3_R04xaiHWVN_qAFees1Ed_gWjNFD7yimymhuOV6lfw/s2000/cbfyBJGxKGbL6Kg5mFBwwlcLjymysR1HXUMXrFVM7Vk.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; display: inline !important; font-size: 12pt; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-indent: 0.5in;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2000" data-original-width="2000" height="211" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijb_J8RwxA3dj1_uWQ93MdIfOLTsi35NZRj0n6aQN7rBT7Jg4d8Gm9y8JtDPKhpj_8oLk9v5LgbiWLbC61GEIdrC4j0g-xWS3LRTMfF8-5Avc-s3-Eh7t6XdDOC8POLBwKX8K3m68eR6xqLTh3_R04xaiHWVN_qAFees1Ed_gWjNFD7yimymhuOV6lfw/w211-h211/cbfyBJGxKGbL6Kg5mFBwwlcLjymysR1HXUMXrFVM7Vk.jpg" width="211" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvj-AvzIN7Py70B6n5Sf5BxoUA_XJ5lwtH3CiupuupNF0y1ACL-tHzQIKeagkaCyWbGgcUDL4_oVJba-kCkpH4KDmeRHc85GEPx1bMXsXXClNSCMv_8DItRwi7CV__ZuZ4JjHG19QfguAueRNaUoXtPsw5cNScbMcA-7EV_9fTL3cu130YcQxUMBv0yg/s1200/anderson-manufacturing-ar-open-stripped-lower-punisher-black-receiver-1620826-2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvj-AvzIN7Py70B6n5Sf5BxoUA_XJ5lwtH3CiupuupNF0y1ACL-tHzQIKeagkaCyWbGgcUDL4_oVJba-kCkpH4KDmeRHc85GEPx1bMXsXXClNSCMv_8DItRwi7CV__ZuZ4JjHG19QfguAueRNaUoXtPsw5cNScbMcA-7EV_9fTL3cu130YcQxUMBv0yg/w320-h320/anderson-manufacturing-ar-open-stripped-lower-punisher-black-receiver-1620826-2.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiHtWrlDYoEtkiKm47--wFCwNhaq-o9iQqymSyEaXoTRcvn11JZiVf6bsxbMGWmFXq-lSU-dlnO5S2_OR2zZcNdZ7mp3BI9GPSber8f_R6AGdhq7-tsHeQPGUZKuHTZ13QaWfL2VNsctrIVu6QAoJzZo1ZMHsVTl_PxHuTBsgDg2ArRucCWM5pMPy9pA/s1136/nausicaa-578x801.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1136" data-original-width="852" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiHtWrlDYoEtkiKm47--wFCwNhaq-o9iQqymSyEaXoTRcvn11JZiVf6bsxbMGWmFXq-lSU-dlnO5S2_OR2zZcNdZ7mp3BI9GPSber8f_R6AGdhq7-tsHeQPGUZKuHTZ13QaWfL2VNsctrIVu6QAoJzZo1ZMHsVTl_PxHuTBsgDg2ArRucCWM5pMPy9pA/s320/nausicaa-578x801.jpg" width="240" /></a></div><br /><br /><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><br /></span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><a href="https://www.vulture.com/article/marvel-punisher-police-cops-military-fandom.html"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">According
to Abraham Riesman</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"> (2020) Frank Castle seems to be the patron
saint of police, Military, and Private security:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Marine
Corps veteran Christopher Neff…owns thousands of dollars in Punisher comics and
merchandise, has a Punisher tattoo, and even designed one of his wedding cakes
to look like the character’s distinctive skull logo. Neff goes out of his way
to say he keeps his admiration for the character “safely in the realm of
fantasy,” but as far as fantasies go, it’s a powerful one. “Frank Castle is the
ultimate definition of Occam’s razor for the military,” he says. “Don’t worry
about uniforms, inspections, or restrictive rules of engagement. Find the bad
guys. Kill the bad guys. Protect the innocent. Any true warrior? <b><u>That’s
the dream</u></b>.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Jesse Murrieta… served an
array of roles in law enforcement, including working at a Department of
Homeland Security prison, transporting federal inmates with the U.S. Marshals,
and doing freelance security work, and he’s a Punisher addict. <b><u>He’s
particularly enamored of the skull: He owns rings in its shape, wears a dog tag
bearing its image, and spray-painted it onto the body armor he wears for work.</u></b>
Like Neff, Murrieta sees an element of wish fulfillment in the character.
“Frank Castle does to bad guys and girls what we sometimes wish we could
legally do,” he says. “Castle doesn’t see shades of grey, which, unfortunately,
the American justice system is littered with and which tends to slow down and
sometimes even hinder victims of crime from getting the justice they deserve.” <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i><u><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></u></i></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Yet, the attitude and marketing strategy of this
‘Militainment’ only goes so far as its ability to bestow masculinity on others.
It allows men to fill in their cracks of insecurity through the selling of this
imagery and iconography, safely, and without consequences. It is a part of the
performativity of Masculinity. Men learn through this marketing, to mask fear
and self-doubt through unearned confidence and bravado, or that they need to
drown it with alcohol or other forms of self-medication, or you’ll be able to
ignore it with a big enough gun in your hands. The image of the Punisher is just
the latest costume masculinity offers to men, then uses it as an irrational
standard by which to judge them.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKXUWcWD9gELSBvhlcPa_Oz1JDVjR6WQXKkVqakepub16TraqYBVKBC1BIngj35KmW4JPYpKkWyC5r6OvK77lQ_gf84wcs21EHb5r5P_DGNM57jlfpXryyAg9LZmMs54sARk2uTc8Swi8N4Z912hBWnHSYDHkKLDTa-KmZDFPfldIywCFjKCwco4QhWw/s1024/11095081_0.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1024" data-original-width="666" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKXUWcWD9gELSBvhlcPa_Oz1JDVjR6WQXKkVqakepub16TraqYBVKBC1BIngj35KmW4JPYpKkWyC5r6OvK77lQ_gf84wcs21EHb5r5P_DGNM57jlfpXryyAg9LZmMs54sARk2uTc8Swi8N4Z912hBWnHSYDHkKLDTa-KmZDFPfldIywCFjKCwco4QhWw/w260-h400/11095081_0.jpg" width="260" /></a></div><br /><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Masculinity as Criticism </span></i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>As
stated above, masculinity has a greater level of scrutiny. The limited and
specific behaviors and norms that make up acceptable masculinity in the
bureaucratic structure are consistently policed by individuals, groups, and institutions.
Nevertheless, masculinity is still valued, integral to the social control of
millions of men in the US, and a strong marketing tool. And rather than take
measurable and significant steps to try and change the definition and understanding
of masculinity, or at least decreasing its overall importance to the operation
of our social systems, our culture decides to “double down” on masculinity and
use it as criticism. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Amongst
the legitimate criticism of the Uvalde police department for their inaction,
and the rational and sensible calls for stricter gun legislation to an outright
ban of assault weapons, there has been a consistent narrative critical of the department’s
actions through the lens of masculinity. While a broader criticism of
masculinity is valid, this narrative instead criticized the department for their
lack of masculinity. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Couched in masculine rhetoric,
the Uvalde police have been called <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2022/06/uvalde-police-robb-elementary-shooting-dishonor/661184/">dishonorable</a>,
and branded as <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u_f6lvwVyfE">cowards</a>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In the typical internet pile on that happens
on social media, every pro-gun weekend warrior, with any hint of tactical
training in their background, poured over the footage pointing out the various
errors that the officers involved made, making sure to their audience that the
problem wasn’t with the training or the weapons. The problem, in their mind,
was that the Police officers weren’t ‘man enough’.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When it was revealed that one of the police
officers waiting in the Robb elementary hallway, <a href="https://www.newsweek.com/uvalde-officer-checks-phone-punisher-lock-screen-during-shootingvideo-1724131">had
a Punisher logo lock screen</a> on their phone, some of the criticism dipped
into the rightful questioning of why police officers should emulate violent
murderous vigilantes. Unfortunately, a lot of the conversations was also in the
vein of “<a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Fallout/comments/2hr9ag/what_would_the_punisher_do/">What
would Frank Do</a>?” as a way to preserve the sanctity of their precious pro
capitalist phallic obsessed massacre prone masculinity. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><br /></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4XJj_gTS8ZNkZy631MDPgUwkc0f1DZs6CNwhnehrEvT6cf0nVVHhmEG2GmRPoS34W5w3K8tdmhx4tCd3a5vQBDe4jSnP47qbC_UJ6S8haly9iy8BQHScHguiD2y0JXi_ly_eI5VC8sJ5DpuJHFSb5ycXvojZJG0a4XIJcrU9w88cXTMAL0GIbQVxztg/s1200/The-Matrix-Resurrections-4-Red-Blue-Pill-Teaser-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="630" data-original-width="1200" height="210" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4XJj_gTS8ZNkZy631MDPgUwkc0f1DZs6CNwhnehrEvT6cf0nVVHhmEG2GmRPoS34W5w3K8tdmhx4tCd3a5vQBDe4jSnP47qbC_UJ6S8haly9iy8BQHScHguiD2y0JXi_ly_eI5VC8sJ5DpuJHFSb5ycXvojZJG0a4XIJcrU9w88cXTMAL0GIbQVxztg/w400-h210/The-Matrix-Resurrections-4-Red-Blue-Pill-Teaser-1.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">CONCLUSION<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Masculinity as criticism,
is a part of the way “The Gender Feedback Loop” functions. This criticism
regulates performativity and the multiple and various ways that boys and men
can lose and regain their fragile “man card”. Pop Culture is a tool for that regulation,
and through the commercialization of his iconic image, Frank Castle, the
Punisher, has become the latest and most recent paragon of toxically violent
masculinity, worshiped by cismen who fantasize about dystopian lawlessness as
an excuse to be able to kill people without repercussions. This fantasy, while
disturbing, and illustrative of deeply rooted racist, ableist and misogynistic beliefs,
is also a distraction for cismen from the feelings of isolation, alienation,
and emptiness masculine gender socialization causes in its strive to maintain
social control. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">REFERENCES <o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; text-indent: -.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Brady,
Anita and Tony Schirato 2011. <i>Understanding Judith Butler </i>Thousand Oaks:
Sage Publishing <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; text-indent: -.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; text-indent: -.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Butler,
Judith 1999. <i>Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity 10<sup>th</sup>
Anniversary </i>eds. New York: Routledge.<i> <o:p></o:p></i></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; text-indent: -.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; text-indent: -.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Crawley, Sara L. Lara J. Foley and Constance
l. Shehan 2008. <i>Gendering Bodies</i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>New York Rowman and Littlefield <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; text-indent: -.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; text-indent: -.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Jary
David and Julia Jary 1991. <i>The Harper Collins Dictionary of Sociology </i>New
York: Harper Collins <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; text-indent: -.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; text-indent: -.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Katz,
Jackson 2013. “Tough Guise 2: Violence Manhood and American Culture” Produced
by Sut Jhally Video <a href="https://shop.mediaed.org/tough-guise-2-p45.aspx">https://shop.mediaed.org/tough-guise-2-p45.aspx</a>
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; text-indent: -.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; text-indent: -.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Kimmel
Michael 2008. <i>Guyland: The Perilous World Where Boys Become Men,
Understanding the Critical Years Between 16-26 </i>New York: Harper Publishing <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; text-indent: -.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; text-indent: -.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">________2013
<i>Angry White Men: American Masculinity at the End of An Era </i>New York:
Nation Books <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; text-indent: -.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; text-indent: -.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Riesman,
Abraham 2020. “Why Cops are so in Love with The Punisher” Vulture Retrieved on:
7/30/2022 Retrieved at:</span> <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><a href="https://www.vulture.com/article/marvel-punisher-police-cops-military-fandom.html">https://www.vulture.com/article/marvel-punisher-police-cops-military-fandom.html</a>
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; text-indent: -.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; text-indent: -.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Stahl,
Roger 2009. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i>Militainment, Inc.: War,
Media, and Popular Culture</i> New York: Routledge <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; text-indent: -.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; text-indent: -.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Steinem,
Gloria 2019. “If Men Could Menstrate” in <i>Women’s Reproductive Health 6(3) </i>pp151-152.
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Retrieved on 7/28/2022 Retrieved at <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/23293691.2019.1619050">https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/23293691.2019.1619050</a>
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; text-indent: -.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; text-indent: -.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Walker,
Alicia 2020. <i>Chasing Masculinity: Men Validation and Infidelity</i> New
York: Palgrave Macmillan <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; text-indent: -.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; text-indent: -.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Weber,
Max 2019. <i>Economy and Society: A new Translation </i>Massachusetts: Harvard
University Press<i> <o:p></o:p></i></span></p>
<div style="mso-element: footnote-list;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><br clear="all" />
<hr align="left" size="1" width="33%" />
<!--[endif]-->
<div id="ftn1" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><a href="https://d.docs.live.net/bb5a620476910e43/Documents/Sociologists%20Dojo/Police%5eJ%20the%20Punisher%5eJ%20and%20Performative%20Masculinity%20.docx#_ftnref1" name="_ftn1" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn1;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[1]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%;">It
needs to be pointed out that a lot of these expectations on the part of men do
not take into account the agency of cisgendered women, that a lot of cismen
believe that they would be presented with women as a reward for being “a good
boy”.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoFootnoteText"><o:p> </o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="ftn2" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<p class="MsoFootnoteText"><a href="https://d.docs.live.net/bb5a620476910e43/Documents/Sociologists%20Dojo/Police%5eJ%20the%20Punisher%5eJ%20and%20Performative%20Masculinity%20.docx#_ftnref2" name="_ftn2" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn2;" title=""></a><o:p> </o:p></p>
</div>
</div><br /><p></p>Brian Brutlaghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08099644007940320266noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8714941782515128558.post-29551236067837321532022-07-04T15:52:00.000-07:002022-07-04T15:52:14.273-07:00When Gender Socialization...Met The Romantic Comedy...<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYUfJDkWDxHBeQMm3A5wZ6wLbJxP8re_yXQwGoEewsmacsUa8TZNqgpZnmZtZXB2NCo4l1S3Sc5I-TUtWFzUEd-2bfq6qWEZXjUbyWNNE-e7wyFHuDCJqNlOW5ah_scrv3xC7bQ_GGAxg2ZlrP66CvbgchQqOJsrturJGPpSoDKeZRSKudwFwci2g9TA/s700/01.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="250" data-original-width="700" height="218" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYUfJDkWDxHBeQMm3A5wZ6wLbJxP8re_yXQwGoEewsmacsUa8TZNqgpZnmZtZXB2NCo4l1S3Sc5I-TUtWFzUEd-2bfq6qWEZXjUbyWNNE-e7wyFHuDCJqNlOW5ah_scrv3xC7bQ_GGAxg2ZlrP66CvbgchQqOJsrturJGPpSoDKeZRSKudwFwci2g9TA/w610-h218/01.jpg" width="610" /></a></div><br /><p style="text-align: center;"><br /></p><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The process of
socialization is polymorphic. From observations, school lessons, and shared
experiences, to on-the-job training and parental “teachable” moments, all can
be a part of general social learning. Socialization is primarily used
systemically as a mechanism of social control, giving individuals investment in
a societies social order by manipulating them (beginning at birth) to follow
rules, regulations, and cultural norms, with the hope that those norms get
internalized into a drive and determination to benefit society. In essence, socialization
seeks to create a law abiding productive acceptable member of a society within
an established order. The more rigid the order, the more acute its socialized
messaging. <a name="_Hlk107729147">This paper is an examination of the impact
the Romantic Comedy film genre has on the creation, maintenance, and
reinforcement of problematic gendered messaging in the process of socialization
through its narrative arcs, marketing, and characters; all while normalizing emotional
terrorism against women, coercing girls and women into the Patriarchal bargain,
and viewing all women through the lens of the rich white straight “Karen”. <o:p></o:p></a></span></p>
<span style="mso-bookmark: _Hlk107729147;"></span>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/vmSpCLefjnw" width="320" youtube-src-id="vmSpCLefjnw"></iframe></div><br /><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">A BRIEF THORETICAL INTERLUDE </span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Gender
Socialization is the process by which individuals learn what it means to be
male, female, masculine, feminine, trans, and non-binary along </span><a href="https://genderspectrum.org/articles/understanding-gender"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">the
gender spectrum</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>While
these definitions, concepts and identities are fluid at their core, the process
of gender socialization has the same goal [as socialization] of fitting someone
into an established social order. So, even though this process is a social
construction, able to become anything as open and free as one’s heart desires,
it often is restricted by a power system of institutions and organizations that
harness and cultivate an exclusionary understanding of gender, sexuality, race,
and disability that is exceedingly recalcitrant. This power system reinforces a
genitally focused, biologically deterministic binary understanding of identity,
creating arbitrarily irrational differences between and among the categories of
gender it has validated (through various societal rewards and opportunities) as
being acceptable. What results is a genderist, sexist, racist, ableist latticed
institutional apparatus; what bell hooks (2000) called <a name="_Hlk107644289">“the
white supremacist capitalist [Heterosexist, Able-bodied] patriarchy”. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></a><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">General messages <o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Each social
system dictates the social learning process and the overall messages
individuals will receive. The more egalitarian the system, the more benevolent,
open, and accepting messages they will receive. The more exclusive messages, the
more discriminatory, closed, and alienating the response will be.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In “the white supremacist capitalist
[Heterosexist, Able-bodied] patriarchy”, the limits are heavily compounded. In such
as system, those socially labeled at birth (by presumed visible genitalia) to
be “girls,” are consistently given the message that their chief value resides
in their body; either as a sex object for someone else (usually Cisgendered heterosexual
men) or as a vessel for the next generation (that they are supposed to want and
bear children), and be in a constant state of potential pregnancy. Because of
this objectifying valorizing, girls start to form a self-identity based around
their relationship to other people. Their value is not in themselves, their
value is in what they are and worth, to boys and men.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This system rewards girls and women for accepting,
promoting, and securing their place among men, while sanctioning, resisting, or
restricting any behavior outside of those relationships, especially complete
independence. Additionally, since these messages are not exclusive to one
gender, girls also learn the messages for boys and men<a href="https://d.docs.live.net/bb5a620476910e43/Documents/Sociologists%20Dojo/Gender%20Socialization%20and%20the%20RomCom.docx#_ftn1" name="_ftnref1" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn1;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[1]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a> so that they too can
participate in masculine policing through various sanctions. Like all
sanctions, these restrictions can be overt (blatant, visible) covert (subtle,
invisible) individual or institutional. However, when policing gender, for the
sanctions to retain their hold, a system needs to be implemented to assure
compliance.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Gender Feedback Loop<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">According to Crawley,
Foley and Shehan (2008) <i>The Gender Feedback Loop</i> is a mechanism of
surveillance, social control, disciplining behaviors, and ideas of the self.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The general <b>messages</b> that girls and
women receive is then internalized in them<b>selves</b> through the cultivation
of a gender self-identity. Then, the expression of that identity is carried out
on their <b>bodies</b> which then become messages for others. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">This general process is common regardless of the level
of restriction a system imposes. However, in a restrictive gendered system like
we have in the US, the messages, selves, and bodies require daily affirmations
and confirmations at each stage. Each of the “messages” require conformation
that they are being properly given, the “selves” require confirmation that they
have been properly received, and the “bodies” are policed to maintain “correct”
expression based upon the system its reinforcing. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is a panoptical surveillance that sees
this body expression as passive; docile gender bodies (Foucault 1990). The
Foucauldian “bio power” envelops this loop defining the ways that the body is
considered “normal” by the way it expresses gender. The surveillance of
womanhood begins at birth and includes every woman’s behavior (Crawley et al
2008: 93). Girls and women are called upon to cut, pluck, pull, wax, fast, and
kill themselves into a “perfect” body. To accept the creation of masculine
social bonds through their objectification and violation, girls and women promote
masculine power for economic, social, and political stability. Women are required
through this surveillance to actively practice femininity through what they do,
how people respond to them, and how they respond back. They cannot just be “not
men”, they are required by the system to “become their own jailers.” (Crawley
et al 2008). <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Girls get acquainted with
this Prison and self-sanctioning at a very young age.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The Media as an Agent of Gender
Socialization <o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">According to Kilbourne (1999) the media as an agent of
socialization, acts twofold:</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; text-indent: -0.25in;"> <b>The media gives us knowledge without
experience.</b> This means that the
media we consume (through smart phones, tablets, laptops, TV, film etc.)
provides us with passive information about the world. Passive information is
any type of information that is easily captured.</span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">2.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The
media does not just show entertainment nor does commercial advertisements just
sell products; they sell images of class, race, gender, sex, ability,
disability, beauty, honor, adulthood, relationships, morality etc. Defining for
us what we consider <b>normalcy.</b><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">For the gender socialization of girls, this begins
with the media consumption of “The Princess Culture”.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDH05nIRko_bn4OqJ8E2SIw3XL4yMo3oeKDiXu0cbhHRh0dWbYIbh_z-_V98ogBAjHSxOQMrPrMuDro131YzrpiJNeZ2UhqC_hx2NoLE5cUJ1erUSWHGoZp4BUDK78mcXln9tY0mJ56n1TPSGiuOp6oUcH9oVGJCYKaxyeMGOxkJ5XQUkTgHMdByKK9A/s800/Untitled-800x400.webp" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="800" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDH05nIRko_bn4OqJ8E2SIw3XL4yMo3oeKDiXu0cbhHRh0dWbYIbh_z-_V98ogBAjHSxOQMrPrMuDro131YzrpiJNeZ2UhqC_hx2NoLE5cUJ1erUSWHGoZp4BUDK78mcXln9tY0mJ56n1TPSGiuOp6oUcH9oVGJCYKaxyeMGOxkJ5XQUkTgHMdByKK9A/w400-h200/Untitled-800x400.webp" width="400" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">From Princess Culture to the Rom Com <o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The Princess Culture can
be defined as the commercialization of the fantasy princess narrative
identifying the feminized ideas of beauty standards, physical perfection, and passivity,
as a source of young girl empowerment (Orenstein 2011).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is through this princess culture,
especially the one that has been dominated for nearly one hundred years by a
single company (Disney), that girls learn that they can wait for their literal
“Prince Charming” to come and rescue them: </span><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0029583/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_3"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">from
death</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">, </span><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0053285/?ref_=fn_al_tt_2"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">sleep</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">,
</span><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0042332/?ref_=tt_sims_tt_i_1"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">or
poverty and abuse</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">. Then, [in the more recent Disney
Princess Films]<a href="https://d.docs.live.net/bb5a620476910e43/Documents/Sociologists%20Dojo/Gender%20Socialization%20and%20the%20RomCom.docx#_ftn2" name="_ftnref2" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn2;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[2]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
</span><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0097757/?ref_=fn_al_tt_2"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">believing
he is worth altering your body to be with him</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"> or staying in an
emotionally abusive relationship </span><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0101414/?ref_=fn_al_tt_3"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">because
you believe you’ll be able to change him</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The Princess Culture is not
only validating the aforementioned passivity but supports the establishment of
the Patriarchal bargain for girls at a young age.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Patriarchal bargain, coined by
Denzi Kandiyoti (1989) to explain the way different forms of
patriarchy present women and girls with distinct "rules of the game";
calls for different strategies to maximize security and optimize life options
with varying potential for active or passive resistance in the face of their oppression.
Basically, through this bargain, girls and women support and promote the
patriarchal system with its misogynistically violent behavioral rhetoric, and
in exchange, are granted access to male power through the relationships they
cultivate with them. The unfortunate irony being that the patriarchal bargain
isn’t an active choice. Instead, girls and women are just playing out the
passive scripts and validations that they have already been given. They are
accessing power through relationships with men, rather than cultivating power
in and of themselves. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Additionally, the Princess
accouterment has also been co-opted </span><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Purity-Myth-Americas-Obsession-Virginity/dp/1580053149"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">by
the Purity movement</span></a><span class="MsoHyperlink"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">,</span></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">
which, in another shitty Patriarchal “deal”, girls and women are convinced to
relinquish their sexual agency and give the power of their body autonomy to
their fathers; who become “chastity cops” of their daughter’s virginity. “The
fathers plucked silver tiaras from a basket and “crowned their daughters”
(Orenstein 2016:91). This again, reinforces the image of Princess purity that begins
with the (Typically Disney) Princess culture, and then is retooled and
repackaged for First Communions, Quinceaneras, Bat Mitzvahs, Homecoming, Proms,
and the White Wedding (Ingraham 2008). “The Princess” then at this point, is
beyond its basic royal title. Through the constant bombardment of imagery, and
the cultural “practice runs” in preparation for virginal heterosexual white
marriage, the princess is the pacifier that it has become the foundation for
Cishet white femininity on which The Romantic Comedy stands. Along the way,
marketed as lighthearted relational entertainment, the romantic comedy since
its inception, has followed in the tradition of the princess culture in form,
and messaging.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIfGLdc9jMSlTQZ472pcXyolaDdLoTyyWUrOtDuKCz_naDkfBZD1DDLh-X-XkSmtUgKrnu_j8TJzHY5Ji0wqAIjZScjz9u8049TrP17evVMRbBmys2IHSNPThXzglf5016RsRuUResYi3Pew7gKqD42zn9JPUqIN3ynJkqrx1UfwYNgdA7ysu2aO5iOw/s728/7_sammy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="410" data-original-width="728" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIfGLdc9jMSlTQZ472pcXyolaDdLoTyyWUrOtDuKCz_naDkfBZD1DDLh-X-XkSmtUgKrnu_j8TJzHY5Ji0wqAIjZScjz9u8049TrP17evVMRbBmys2IHSNPThXzglf5016RsRuUResYi3Pew7gKqD42zn9JPUqIN3ynJkqrx1UfwYNgdA7ysu2aO5iOw/w400-h225/7_sammy.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">THE ROMANTIC COMEDY<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The sub-genre titled the Romantic Comedy, or “Rom Com”
has existed in various forms for over 100 years in the United States. In that
time, </span><a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12119-022-09958-6"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">a
lot </span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>has been </span><a href="https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2018/08/best-romantic-comedies-list"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">written
about</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"> this very popular subgenre, that always seems to be </span><a href="https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=PM_4DwAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PT7&dq=related:SCAhY2DTtGMJ:scholar.google.com/&ots=Sv6HAfrTDu&sig=KmGPjyoJ6SGVmmphguh_HpdY6iY#v=onepage&q&f=false"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“on
the back foot”</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">. While there have been subtle shifts in
the organization of Protagonists, updated cultural references, and change in
narrative storytelling devices, these are still genre pictures that follow set
guidelines to obtain/retain the “Rom Com” classification. The typical Romantic
Comedy is often identified as a comedy sub-genre of films that add romantic
subplots to [typically] slice of life stories in which two, usually well-liked
characters are united and or reconciled by the end of the film.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">While not exclusive, many of these stories tend to
involve:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="margin-left: 39.0pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l2 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Younger protagonists <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 39.0pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l2 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Seemingly meant for each other but kept
apart due to circumstances and plot contrivances <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 39.0pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l2 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The Surmounting of all odds (class differences,
concurrent partnerships, unaccepting family, geographic difference, or a
volcano) they reunite by the end of the films in a typical fairy tale style
happy ending <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 39.0pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l2 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">A wedding, or they get married soon after
reconnecting. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="margin-left: 39.0pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l2 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">A marketing strategy where the trailers
and posters of the films are indistinguishable from each other. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">When looking at the Romantic comedy as an extension of
the Princess Culture to be used as another mechanism of gender socialization
for girls and women, the similarities of the fairy tale are often present. Firstly,
the Princess imagery recreated in the Rom Com through its common white wedding
ending. In these endings, Ingraham’s (2008) retooling of “the princess culture”
for women is on full display. From the dress, the setting and staging of the
wedding and, because it is typically the final shot/scene of the film, there is
an invocation of the Fairy Tale end phrase “And they lived happily ever after…”.
This maintains the myth, power, and importance of love and relationships to the
learning of and participating in feminine gender performances; through the lens
of “the Princess” without any real strategies for building and cultivating legitimate
relationships. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“…</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;">we have grown up in a culture that
told us that no matter what we experience in our childhoods, no matter the pain,
sorrow, alienation, emptiness, no matter the extent of our dehumanization,
romantic love will be ours…we believe “someday our Prince may come</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>(bell hooks 2001: 170)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Here hooks (2001) is putting love in context, while
displaying how we often take love out of it. One of the typical narrative arcs
is the “love will conquer all” thematic, where, as stated above, love develops
regardless of class status, geography, Political affiliation, racism, or ableism
in the family. The implication being that love is something cosmic, beyond the
socially constructed institutional limiters we simple humans place on the world
to have it make sense. Yet, it is also something that is framed as beyond our
control, seen as something that we do not choose…. we “fall” in love after all
(hooks 2001). This implies that we do not have any control when it comes to the
subject of love<a href="https://d.docs.live.net/bb5a620476910e43/Documents/Sociologists%20Dojo/Gender%20Socialization%20and%20the%20RomCom.docx#_ftn3" name="_ftnref3" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn3;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[3]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>,
we are not active in its process, and we like to believe that it just happens<b>.</b>
Girls and women have been conditioned through gender socialization, to internalize
this myth of love to the point that they relinquish their agency and body
autonomy for a boost of oxytocin. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Hooks (2001) also points
out an additional allure to the mythologizing of love is a diffusion of
responsibility. Love is often referred to as a drug; that the individuals who
are “in its thrall” or “under its spell” act irrationally, reckless, and out of
character.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Although, with that also
comes a sense of boundless freedom and experimentation, many of those actions
and behaviors would not be as readily accepted outside the context of “being in
love”. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Because of this, any rational evaluation of a partner
from a foundation of care, knowledge and respect is often portrayed in the Rom
Com as distant, cold, and coercive. Instead, in the Rom Com genre, a woman
without a partner, (regardless of how occupationally successful she is) is
somehow unfulfilled.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><br /></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/SgyaTrDDY4k" width="320" youtube-src-id="SgyaTrDDY4k"></iframe></div><br /><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><br /></span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The Rom Com as a Product</span></i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">In a capitalist system,
profit is motivation for action, response, creativity and creation. To that
end, we’ve monetized the gender social learning process to the point that we
have </span><a href="https://www.buzzfeed.com/hopelasater/unnecessarily-gendered-products"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">gendered
everything</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"> to double the revenue. Therefore, it cannot be
overlooked that the success and proliferation of the Romantic Comedy for a
century is due to the intersection of gender socialization and Capitalism. The
Romantic Comedy is a product, and due to the aggressively predatory nature of
capitalism, that product needs to make a profit. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">On the very rudimentary
level, as a product of an industry, the film needs to make money (financial capital)<a href="https://d.docs.live.net/bb5a620476910e43/Documents/Sociologists%20Dojo/Gender%20Socialization%20and%20the%20RomCom.docx#_ftn4" name="_ftnref4" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn4;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[4]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a> beyond its budget. In this
regard, the livelihood and trajectory of the romantic comedy has been volatile
to the point that nearly every single decade, someone writes a think piece
about how “ the rom com” </span><a href="https://www.michigandaily.com/opinion/the-death-of-rom-coms-as-we-know-it/"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">is
dead</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">
or </span><a href="https://screenrant.com/romantic-comedies-died-2000s-revival-how/"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">is
dying</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">, or </span><a href="https://variety.com/2019/film/columns/why-rom-coms-need-to-go-beyond-tropes-to-survive-1203145823/"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">something
saved it</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"> from dying. And even though the public taste for the
Rom Com </span><a href="https://www.the-numbers.com/market/genre/Romantic-Comedy"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">waxes
and wanes</span></a><a href="https://d.docs.live.net/bb5a620476910e43/Documents/Sociologists%20Dojo/Gender%20Socialization%20and%20the%20RomCom.docx#_ftn5" name="_ftnref5" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn5;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[5]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">,
it will never truly die because of the cultural social and symbolic capital of
the genre (Bourdieu 1987). <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The value of the Rom Com
as a mechanism of gender socialization is in its ability to maintain the
acceptable vision and gendered messages our society deems acceptable. In this
context, the Rom Com is successful when it either establishes or reinforces
these messages, doing its part to turn them into norms.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is the function of the rom com’s
cultural and social capital. According to Bourdieu (1987), cultural capital is
the value of knowledge skills and experiences, whereas social capital is the
value of social relationships. Thus, the Rom Com genre’s Cultural capital can
be determined by its impact on how we think, and importance we place on
romantic relationships and value them in our lives. A Rom Com genre’s social
capital is determined in the way that it impacts the relationships we have.
Hefner and Wilson (2013) found that the greater exposure to romantic comedies resulted
in a stronger endorsement of romantic ideals. Also, Johnson and Homes (2009)
state that:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;">“
Films appeared to depict relationships as progressing quickly into something
emotionally meaningful and significant, but there was little shown to explain
how or why this was the case. Adolescents using these films as a model on which
to base their own behaviors, expecting that in doing so their relationships
will progress in kind, are likely to be left disappointed” (p368)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Moreover, </span><a href="http://content.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1868389,00.html"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">According
to Heriot Watt University's Family and Personal Relationships Laboratory</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">,
misconceptions of love and romance depicted in romantic comedies are common
struggles relationship councilors face with their clients. It is this
inaccurate representation of how relationships work through the Rom Com, that hinder
our ability to create healthy relationships.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Whether that is by confusing erotic attraction, or basic human
compassion with love, to the lack of active and purposeful communication,
relationships suffer because of the cultural and social value of the Rom Com
itself (hooks 2001, Walker 2020). Yet, it is through the symbolic value where
the Rom Com becomes truly dangerous.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center; text-indent: 0.5in;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5TvyQySj-uxg0bZ2CJf7_1w23q6oZBq_cP7qzkfZwS4D9o8R6-BYgqJMIv0WtyM37jqCJM8cdYumeCRH8P2cJBvwIED_HUU4bqXGbkrt7mDUrMUWF30OjPxGjO0a1GiBRGkSwyvSivB_c7VSxM2tEVI72dygmalFV1oqlhga0Ud532MJ5ChnOWU8kLQ/s300/11095081_0.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="168" data-original-width="300" height="224" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5TvyQySj-uxg0bZ2CJf7_1w23q6oZBq_cP7qzkfZwS4D9o8R6-BYgqJMIv0WtyM37jqCJM8cdYumeCRH8P2cJBvwIED_HUU4bqXGbkrt7mDUrMUWF30OjPxGjO0a1GiBRGkSwyvSivB_c7VSxM2tEVI72dygmalFV1oqlhga0Ud532MJ5ChnOWU8kLQ/w400-h224/11095081_0.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The Rom Com is “the Karen”
of the Film industry <o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">According to Bourdieu (1998)
Symbolic capital is the value of demographics that when used, creates various
forms of privilege and barriers. This is employed so often that it can create
“symbolic violence” instituted through the adherence that the dominated cannot
fail to grant to the dominant (Bourdieu 1998:35). To that end, the symbolic
capital of The Rom Com is in its promotion of a white supremist heterosexist,
able bodied capitalistic patriarchy, which not only legitimizes the symbolic
violence people experience, but may result in symbolic annihilation and the omission,
trivialization, and condemnation of any group or person outside of this system
(Tuchman 1978). <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Rom Com as a genre </span><a href="https://www.34st.com/article/2021/02/romantic-comedy-diversity-bipoc-hollywood-representation"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">is
incredibly white</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">. The films featuring Black Indigenous People
of color (BIPOC) are infinitesimally fewer, with smaller budgets. Until the
recent </span><a href="https://www.primetimer.com/features/a-complete-history-of-the-netflix-summer-rom-com"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">resurgence
under Netflix</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">, the majority of the Rom Com Catalog for
the last 100 years has been all white. With that amount of volume, whenever
anyone makes a </span><a href="https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2018/08/best-romantic-comedies-list"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“best
of “ Rom Com” list</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">, it will inevitably feature 95% of white
actors in both roles. This not only normalizes whiteness as having ubiquitous complexity,
but it forces people of color to, once again, find some kinship and comparison
with white protagonists while not seeing themselves or their story on screen.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Like The Princess
culture, the Rom Com also exclusively traffics in Cisgendered
Heteronormativity.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Most Romantic
comedies only include cisgendered females seeking social and emotional refuge
from their life (regardless of how occupationally successful they are) in the
arms of a cisgendered man. Many of the traditional cisgender norms are played
out, reinforcing gendered stereotypes about emotion, self-fulfillment, and
success, that reinforce the gender binary convincing girls and women into the
trap of “have it all” sexism.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">As I </span><a href="https://thesociologistsdojo.blogspot.com/2013/12/gender-representation-in-disneys-frozen.html"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">explain
in a previous essay from 2013</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;">"Have
it all" Sexism is a term that refers to a new type of sexist female
representation in the media that requires female characters that are shown to
have careers (with varying degrees of power, agency and autonomy), or who are
being portrayed as physically strong (or strong willed), must also identify (or
in some cases learn to identify) with traditional female gender norms and
scripts<b><u><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;"><span style="background-color: white;">.</span><span style="background-color: black;"> The message is that it is OK for girls to
have agency and social power in our society as long as they don't forget that
they also have to be wives and mothers</span></span></u></b><span style="background-color: black;"> </span>(i.e. sex objects and
reproductive vessels.) This maintains the value of women to be in their body,
and their representation as full and complete human beings is a distant
second.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Additionally, regarding Heterosexism, <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><a href="https://www.cinemablend.com/news/2561116/great-lgbtq-romantic-comedies-and-how-to-watch-them"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">LGBTQ
romantic comedies</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"> are fewer and far between, many of them only
beginning to be released in the last 25-30 years.<a href="https://d.docs.live.net/bb5a620476910e43/Documents/Sociologists%20Dojo/Gender%20Socialization%20and%20the%20RomCom.docx#_ftn6" name="_ftnref6" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn6;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[6]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a> Also, many of these
stories fail in their representation because they tend to hire straight actors
to play gay characters and </span><a href="https://www.advocate.com/arts-entertainment/2018/7/10/23-cisgender-actors-who-played-trangender-movies"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Cisgendered
actors to play Transgender characters</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">; many of them garnering
Oscar recognition. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Thankfully, in 2022, 110
years since the start of the Rom Com as a genre, </span><a href="https://www.mic.com/culture/billy-porter-anythings-possible-eva-reign"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">we
are getting our first romantic comedy with a Transwoman in the lead</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">.
<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center; text-indent: 0.5in;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/20WlagB4vFU" width="320" youtube-src-id="20WlagB4vFU"></iframe></div><br /><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Disability is rarely
provided a positive portrayal in film. Too often, we are villains, “techno
marvels”, saintly sages, or regarding our sexual abilities, either considered
asexual or “damaged goods” (Norden 1994, Blackburn 2000). Because of this we
are often not the protagonists of romantic films and are even rarer in Romantic
Comedies. When we are in these films, the portrayal often activates the gag
reflex of any Disability activist or Ally; </span><a href="https://www.buzzfeed.com/alisonwillmore/the-grotesque-tear-jerking-of-me-before-you"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">because
the disabled protagonist often ends up dead.</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"> <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This lack of representation, like the other
groups mentioned above, reinforces the “otherness” of disability, as not being
worthy of love, being too much of a burden, and therefore only regulated to
being “Inspiration porn” for able bodied people.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Additionally, many of these stories are about
the disability. Rarely do we see a story about disability in film that does not
feature the disability as a major plot point or character motivation. If we are
to take the RomCom structure of a “slice of life” focus, then the disability
would be as essential to the plot as someone just moving from one room of their
house to the other. Thankfully, as with the other marginalized groups discussed
above, we are seeing some small steps forward in not only showing the full
Disabled personhood of an individual, but their </span><a href="https://www.respectability.org/2020/12/alive-movie-relationships/"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">enriching
inter abled relationships</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"> that they have cultivated.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">While these positive strides
to bring visibility to more marginalized groups in the RomCom genre, the
continued presence of binary focused gender stereotypes, and normalized white able-bodied
heterosexism, the Rom Com becomes exclusively marketed to cisgendered affluent
white women. And as we all get sucked into its orbit through wide and continued
distribution, we can never fully escape the “Karen” of the film industry. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiok09OLwwRPefZO1ofFUFQuzDrM2CICeX40VxWRb6uRhPnD-2ouesCuJpiZBw6b3325PHDCstI1UFgsajZSOtYHXejBjyGRYT5BfY1b7zYjK4AVYZPAfIQuoYoG-T8vdTv1oaiYwX-WXE3JUhhA1jn3OTNMFK-W86QF4pYzS8LlmvyRiBoR0M8Y1VhFQ/s800/love2_0.webp" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="450" data-original-width="800" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiok09OLwwRPefZO1ofFUFQuzDrM2CICeX40VxWRb6uRhPnD-2ouesCuJpiZBw6b3325PHDCstI1UFgsajZSOtYHXejBjyGRYT5BfY1b7zYjK4AVYZPAfIQuoYoG-T8vdTv1oaiYwX-WXE3JUhhA1jn3OTNMFK-W86QF4pYzS8LlmvyRiBoR0M8Y1VhFQ/w400-h225/love2_0.webp" width="400" /></a></div><br /><o:p></o:p><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The Rom Com, and The Rape
Culture<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Aside from the
exclusionary and harboring the unfortunate vestige of “The Karen”, romantic
comedies in its reproduction of the white supremacist heterosexist capitalist
able-bodied patriarchy, also reproduces, supports, and expands the rape
culture. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The Rape Culture can be
explained as “a complex set of beliefs that encourages male sexual aggression
and supports violence against women. It is a society where violence is seen as
sexy, and sexuality is violent. In a Rape culture, women perceive and
experience a wide continuum of threatened violence that ranges from sexual
remarks to rape itself. A Rape culture condones physical and emotional
terrorism against women and presents it as the norm.” (Buchwald Fletcher and
Roth 2005: xi) This is both continuous and compounding overtime, leading to Psychological
Trauma, and is a part of the overall “Female Tax” women emotionally pay for
existing in such a society.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Much of the gendered messages learned through
the Princess culture are the tools that are used as weapons against girls and
women in The Rape Culture. Passivity: “Why didn’t you fight back?” Wealth and Status:
“Emasculation by proxy”, “You should have known better, ” Empathy and
Compassion: “Why didn’t you leave [him]?” The draw and crave for public attention
through the beauty and body norms, fed by the princess culture, is transformed
into a false sense of public ownership over a woman’s body, men feeling
entitled to a woman’s body in public.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This
is just one of the social conditions that create the domestic terrorism of
everyday violence that women and other marginalized groups experience.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">According to Kolysh
(2021):<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;">“</span><a href="https://www.rutgersuniversitypress.org/everyday-violence/9781978823990"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;">Everyday Violence</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;"> includes commonplace behaviors
many people consider acceptable and normal. It is violence not only because
each act is violent, even if not in the traditional sense, also because the cumulative
effects of these interactions keep women and LGBTQ folks in a near constant state
of self-surveillance, being at the ready, and prevent their full participation in
public life and feed into violence across society (p17)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">One of the significant (but far from only) Catch-22’s
that is created from a binary constructed genitally focused gender
socialization, is the perception that “the world” is a dangerous place for
women. Part of the gender socialization process to a rape culture for girls and
women, is learning this danger…and then being blamed for it. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>xTx (2018) discusses
the “lessons” girls are taught to be a girl:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="margin-left: 111.0pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo3; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">1.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Sometimes
you will be forced into things that you don’t want to do.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 111.0pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo3; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">2.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">If
boys want something, they can take it. What girls want is irrelevant<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 111.0pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo3; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">3.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">If
you do nothing, its your fault <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 111.0pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo3; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">4.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">You
are a thing a boy can use to make himself ejaculate<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="margin-left: 111.0pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo3; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">5.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">It’s
fucked up that this happens, and you just deal with it. Move on.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(p118-127)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Because “the dangerous
world” model is taken as fact and not what it is, another mechanism to control
women’s bodies, women are forced to develop various defensive and protective strategies
to simply exist within that world. Many of these strategies include classics
like: not putting your drink down at a party, or going to the bathroom in
groups, to more “advanced methods” through Surveillance apps to </span><a href="https://www.safewise.com/blog/free-apps-can-call-help-youre-ever-danger/"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“walk
home safely at night” <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">or
</span><a href="https://www.google.com/search?q=safe+travel+for+women&source=hp&ei=jQDDYrPcMNmfkPIPif-uWA&iflsig=AJiK0e8AAAAAYsMOnTghLKV0Vpbb_Me44TX2SkU89xaW&ved=0ahUKEwjz1s75v9_4AhXZD0QIHYm_CwsQ4dUDCAo&uact=5&oq=safe+travel+for+women&gs_lcp=Cgdnd3Mtd2l6EAM6FAgAEOoCELQCEIoDELcDENQDEOUCOhEIABDqAhC0AhCKAxC3AxDlAjoRCC4Q6gIQtAIQigMQtwMQ5QI6DggAEI8BEOoCEIwDEOUCULMIWLMIYIkaaAFwAHgAgAFpiAFpkgEDMC4xmAEAoAECoAEBsAEK&sclient=gws-wiz"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">the
multitude of articles</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"> discussing the safety and security of
female travelers, women are encouraged to read before they depart for literally
anywhere. Of course, in our Predatory Capitalist structure many of these
strategies are also commodified and monetized, adding to the overall Female Tax<a href="https://d.docs.live.net/bb5a620476910e43/Documents/Sociologists%20Dojo/Gender%20Socialization%20and%20the%20RomCom.docx#_ftn7" name="_ftnref7" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn7;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[7]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a> women experience. This is
like buying bandages for a gaping festering wound, and that still seems more
plausible than realizing the truth.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/genres/rape-culture"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Feminist scholars
have tried to tell us</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"> the truth. <b><u><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: black; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">The problem, is men</span></u></b><span style="background-color: white;">.</span> Toxic forms of
Hegemonic Masculinity that is initiated through the gender socialization
process of men and boys to be precise. The general valuing of men and
masculinity along with the promotion of alcohol consumption, violence, and
sexual conquest as behaviors to regain/establish their masculinity to the
public when it is threatened, or even questioned (Connell 2005). Regardless of
whether or not boys and men fully, partially adopt or reject these ideals and
behaviors, they will still be judged by them, and sanctioned accordingly. Even
though many men may not directly engage in these Toxic forms of masculinity,
they still contribute to the overall patriarchal system of oppression by existing
in its embrace. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Once such response is
the Incel movement.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">As I wrote in a </span><a href="http://thesociologistsdojo.blogspot.com/2018/10/mandy-review.html"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">previous
piece in (2018)</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Incel”s (short for involuntary celibate) are
a relatively new form of misogyny. They are a subsect of “beta” male sexism
that is adopted by men who do not fit the masculine beauty or body standards.
Their ideology sees women’s bodies as a product that they pay for with dinners,
vacations, clothing etc. So, from this perspective, if these men provide
material goods for women, then they should be given access to their
bodies.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They believe that if they are
nice to women and are “supreme gentlemen”, then they have claim to them. Often,
“Incel” men frequent predominantly online spaces like 4chan and reddit from
which this isolated subculture has developed this new warped sense of toxic
masculinity that is both fragile (able to be deconstructed with the slightest
slip up) and preyed upon by our veracious capitalism. The result of which is a
group of emboldened misogynists who’s lack of “sexual conquest” of women they
believe is due to feminism.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In their
mind, feminism is a movement that hates men; and that any feminist progress is
one that hurts men’s sexual access to women.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Thus, when their masculinity is shattered by women being able to have
free and equal choice, these men have lashed out violently due to the imagined
slights by women that they have falsely perceived.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Because film is a cultural product, The Romantic
Comedy is another space in which this gendered oppression plays out in a
variety of ways.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Because
a lot of Romantic Comedies have a “slice of life” narrative, the men of this
genre consistently participate in Everyday Violence (Kolysh 2021). The men of
these Romantic Comedies are</span><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0128853/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">:
gaslighting</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">, </span><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0889573/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">coercively
duplicitous</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">, <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0075686/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">incel
adjacent</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">, </span><a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/features/king-of-bromance-judd-apatow-1773842.html"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">man
babies</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"> that are looking more for a mother whom they can fuck,
rather than an actual competent, self-possessed and independent partner. Women
in these stories learn, and therefore teach their female audience to look past
flaws, and personality defects because </span><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0243155/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">being
with someone is better than being alone</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">. Given that </span><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2019/may/25/women-happier-without-children-or-a-spouse-happiness-expert"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">women
are happier and healthier when they are childless and single</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">,
whereas men’s life expectancy rises when they are married (mom they can fuck) with
children (secure their legacy). <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This anti-
single, “warm body is good enough </span><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1588173/?ref_=nm_flmg_act_28"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">(sometimes</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">)”
messaging girls and women receive through the RomCom, is more about maintaining
the health, wellbeing, and stability of the patriarchy. Once again, even
stories about and marketed to women, are really about men. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">This mechanism has become
so integrated it is difficult to see a way out. What we need is a culture
shift; to </span><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Redoing-Gender_-How-Nonbinary-Gender-Contributes-Toward-Social-Change/dp/3030836169"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Redo
Gender</span></i></a><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">. </span></i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Instead of the strict
binary, we need to begin at a more open and fluid starting place. This is
because the limited nature of the binary system inevitably will lead to
feelings of discomfort and gender dysphoria for those who do not see a place
within it (Darwin 2022). Instead, it is far more economical and inclusive to
start from a space of broader understanding and acceptance. We need to start in
the liminality of the nonbinary space and cultivate allyship that will lead to a
greater acceptance of authentic identities wherever in the spectrum they might
lie. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMb-0TGgjtyYX8EBhA71ur84_nu0bH0Hy18rBsqO_9HY9PlElTPLNuXa83kkUmFiCkWNCDiY9yUHu6ZnYgl1wWMX0_nTVBikPJpSPpFqPsPkMKvqp0jleaQOKxkSo5Arwdi0X4lOSuvpd87SiRnMqDRnSRvPs9_lyo1Tr1oaeES--_MK0bw01fsEwHJQ/s1200/9f3ddff55bafb36c2d8017685778294c.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="675" data-original-width="1200" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMb-0TGgjtyYX8EBhA71ur84_nu0bH0Hy18rBsqO_9HY9PlElTPLNuXa83kkUmFiCkWNCDiY9yUHu6ZnYgl1wWMX0_nTVBikPJpSPpFqPsPkMKvqp0jleaQOKxkSo5Arwdi0X4lOSuvpd87SiRnMqDRnSRvPs9_lyo1Tr1oaeES--_MK0bw01fsEwHJQ/w400-h225/9f3ddff55bafb36c2d8017685778294c.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">CONCLUSION <o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The Romantic Comedy genre,
through its structure, narrative arcs marketing and characters reinforces and
retains the white supremacist, capitalist heterosexist able-bodied Patriarchy
acting as a gendered trap to supply men with compliant sexually desirable motherly
servants. This process begins with the basic messages through gender
socialization and continues to build and sustain the Rape Culture. While we can
take some solace in the examples of current romantic comedies that break out of
this mold, and are more inclusive, thereby increasing representation; the retrogressive
messages of the Rom Com have unfortunately continued due to their popularity regardless
of the messages being flawed.<a href="https://d.docs.live.net/bb5a620476910e43/Documents/Sociologists%20Dojo/Gender%20Socialization%20and%20the%20RomCom.docx#_ftn8" name="_ftnref8" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn8;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[8]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>It seems we will have to
wait until the more progressive Rom Coms become equally quotable and a part of
film culture for there to be a necessary seismic shift. Love is love, and all
our films should reflect that openness. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">REFERENCES<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; text-indent: -.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; text-indent: -.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Killbourne,
Jean 1999. “Socialization and the Power of Advertising.” From Jeankilbourne.com
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; text-indent: -.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Retrieved at <a href="https://www.jeankilbourne.com/lectures/">https://www.jeankilbourne.com/lectures/</a>
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Retrieved on 7/2/2022<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; text-indent: -.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; text-indent: -.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Kolysh,
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; text-indent: -.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; text-indent: -.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Norden,
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; text-indent: -.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">_____________
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; text-indent: -.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
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<div style="mso-element: footnote-list;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><br clear="all" />
<hr align="left" size="1" width="33%" />
<!--[endif]-->
<div id="ftn1" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<p class="MsoFootnoteText"><a href="https://d.docs.live.net/bb5a620476910e43/Documents/Sociologists%20Dojo/Gender%20Socialization%20and%20the%20RomCom.docx#_ftnref1" name="_ftn1" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn1;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[1]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a> The
general message for boys, their message is that they are valued by virtue of
being men. Meaning, it doesn’t matter what men do, it’s that they do it. If
they don’t do anything that is considered feminine; those behaviors are heavily
policed. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoFootnoteText">Boys also get socialized to a specific form of
masculinity. While there are many forms of masculinity that exist, the type of
masculinity that gets reinforced is “Toxic” to both men and women. It is this
type of masculinity (that is reinforced among men) that glorifies alcohol
consumption, violence and the objectification of women.<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="ftn2" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<p class="MsoFootnoteText"><a href="https://d.docs.live.net/bb5a620476910e43/Documents/Sociologists%20Dojo/Gender%20Socialization%20and%20the%20RomCom.docx#_ftnref2" name="_ftn2" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn2;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[2]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a> I understand
several of these things have started to change, and we are getting better
representation. But that seems to be a function of the acquisition of more
boy-related IP by Disney and then trying to “reclaim the label of Disney
Princess” to apply to other more diverse representations<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(Princess Leia) <o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="ftn3" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<p class="MsoFootnoteText"><a href="https://d.docs.live.net/bb5a620476910e43/Documents/Sociologists%20Dojo/Gender%20Socialization%20and%20the%20RomCom.docx#_ftnref3" name="_ftn3" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn3;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[3]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a> <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;">How commonly is love defined as
irrational, reckless, making people wacky etc.?</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="ftn4" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<p class="MsoFootnoteText"><a href="https://d.docs.live.net/bb5a620476910e43/Documents/Sociologists%20Dojo/Gender%20Socialization%20and%20the%20RomCom.docx#_ftnref4" name="_ftn4" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn4;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[4]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
Many of the top grossers making between<a href="https://www.roku.com/blog/top-rom-coms"> 152-241 million dollars</a> <o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="ftn5" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<p class="MsoFootnoteText"><a href="https://d.docs.live.net/bb5a620476910e43/Documents/Sociologists%20Dojo/Gender%20Socialization%20and%20the%20RomCom.docx#_ftnref5" name="_ftn5" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn5;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[5]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
The height of the modern Rom com being in 199 with 11% of the film market share
at the time.<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="ftn6" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<p class="MsoFootnoteText"><a href="https://d.docs.live.net/bb5a620476910e43/Documents/Sociologists%20Dojo/Gender%20Socialization%20and%20the%20RomCom.docx#_ftnref6" name="_ftn6" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn6;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[6]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
Granted this might be due to the fact that <a href="https://thesociologistsdojo.blogspot.com/2015/06/sociology-alert-scotuss-sweet-jam-of.html?m=0">Federal
protections of Gay Marriage are only 7 years old</a>. And now look like<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2022/06/24/abortion-fears-lgbtq-gay-rights/">
they could also be threatened </a><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="ftn7" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<p class="MsoFootnoteText"><a href="https://d.docs.live.net/bb5a620476910e43/Documents/Sociologists%20Dojo/Gender%20Socialization%20and%20the%20RomCom.docx#_ftnref7" name="_ftn7" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn7;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[7]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a> Sometimes
referred to as “The pink tax” that women are generally quoted and have to pay
more for consumer products. “The Female Tax” can also refer to the more money
women have to spend out of pocket just to live. This includes the cost of menstrual
products, safety and security, and maintaining beauty and body norms <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="ftn8" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<p class="MsoFootnoteText"><a href="https://d.docs.live.net/bb5a620476910e43/Documents/Sociologists%20Dojo/Gender%20Socialization%20and%20the%20RomCom.docx#_ftnref8" name="_ftn8" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn8;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[8]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a> <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 11.0pt;">Geography matters,
be yourself online, men and women can absolutely be friends and DO NOT jump
into a Volcano</span><o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
</div><br /><p></p>Brian Brutlaghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08099644007940320266noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8714941782515128558.post-5345773262788413712022-06-06T11:14:00.003-07:002022-06-06T11:14:56.136-07:00The Chambara Films of Akira Kurosawa: Ran <p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9IhLLAnazjpB7LkZUeE9WJM8yHzgxs1rwrLOIFai5fzRe2BvcFWoEu8UXRRgXQEnVDeUg2exyghivqJ1BobEp53nZMVSZaDoZf-MBsxSkVRXSuihlmskpvQqSSMhE7K2rhB3Xq4yYHh24J-oY0c3XwJrZg3SH4QOIixCtaQej2T9ZAKKUri5bb9WdYg/s670/7_sammy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="670" data-original-width="474" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9IhLLAnazjpB7LkZUeE9WJM8yHzgxs1rwrLOIFai5fzRe2BvcFWoEu8UXRRgXQEnVDeUg2exyghivqJ1BobEp53nZMVSZaDoZf-MBsxSkVRXSuihlmskpvQqSSMhE7K2rhB3Xq4yYHh24J-oY0c3XwJrZg3SH4QOIixCtaQej2T9ZAKKUri5bb9WdYg/w283-h400/7_sammy.jpg" width="283" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The final film in my
analysis of the Chambara films of Akira Kurosawa is the Shakespearean epic, <i>Ran</i>.
Kurosawa’s last Samurai epic encapsulates the end of the Samurai and
contemplatively reflects on his own career. <i>Ran </i>asks questions about
aging, mortality, and legacy. The answers that Kurosawa gives is, like a lot of
his work, multifaceted and emotionally bittersweet. Yet, during this
introspection, Kurosawa hits these points with a melancholy that haunts the
film with a lifetime of longing and regret. In this metatextual analysis,
Kurosawa shows even in his Twilight years, at the end of a glorious career, while
going blind and grieving his wife, he is still a better director than most others
on their best day. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/YwP_kXyd-Rw" width="320" youtube-src-id="YwP_kXyd-Rw"></iframe></div><br /> <p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">PLOT<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Set in Feudal Japan, an
aging warlord goes on his last wild boar hunt with his sons before determining
his successor. He decides to give each of his son’s one of the three Castles in
the shogunate and naming his eldest son the new Daimyo. In exchange, the father
plans on living with each son periodically throughout the year, while retaining
his title, and 30 of his best warriors as an honorarium. His youngest son,
knowing his brothers’ ambitions, speaks out against this decision, and for his perceived
insolence, is banished by his father.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As
the plan is set in motion, the two older brothers alienate and isolate their
father, sequestering him in the empty third castle (previously offered to the
youngest son) which they then besiege in a combined coordinated attack. This
betrayal causes the old warlord to have a mental breakdown and sets in motion
an internal struggle between the brothers that results in the complete annihilation
of their family.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p></p><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIQIm8-FzEhedlMRwENyX0PEjprcXOuPLr6cCVeIP-kjC0xZRV3QtYM0OdCO8VTOKgyiohZmLV2-zC1qd7VdWeYD0XWJp3BbRakyVwFyBClGRbwwL_norhuJrl59O_PwZtU3lAfFKrIcgdwbdUOH1_ZoKmC-zQwP-MH9m-XcWA_hTSwF9IJAMtXT_pHw/s981/01.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="981" data-original-width="736" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIQIm8-FzEhedlMRwENyX0PEjprcXOuPLr6cCVeIP-kjC0xZRV3QtYM0OdCO8VTOKgyiohZmLV2-zC1qd7VdWeYD0XWJp3BbRakyVwFyBClGRbwwL_norhuJrl59O_PwZtU3lAfFKrIcgdwbdUOH1_ZoKmC-zQwP-MH9m-XcWA_hTSwF9IJAMtXT_pHw/w300-h400/01.jpg" width="300" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p></p><p>
</p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br />HISTORICAL CONTEXT<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">It at least needs to be
acknowledged, that while Kurosawa created some of the greatest pieces of
Japanese cinema ever to be photographed. But by the late 1970’s, Kurosawa was
not only considered to be difficult to work with (due to his perfectionism),
but many of the younger up and coming directors believed that he had lost his
skills. This caused an inability to get domestic Japanese funding, and began
the international funding of his projects beginning with <i><a href="https://thesociologistsdojo.blogspot.com/2022/05/the-chambara-films-of-akira-kurosawa.html?m=0">Kagemusha</a>,</i>
continuing through <i>Ran</i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Ran</span></i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">,
while not Kurosawa’s last film, is his last epic Samurai film. It was first
conceived in the 1970’s, but the aforementioned budget concerns, and a reduction
of Kurosawa’s social capital at the time, always kept the film from being made.
It wasn’t until the release and success of </span><a href="http://thesociologistsdojo.blogspot.com/2022/05/the-chambara-films-of-akira-kurosawa.html"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Kagemusha</span></i></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"> improving
his international recognition, and thus bolstering his reputation, that he was
able to secure funding from French Film Producer Serge Silberman, for <i>Ran</i>
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Production <o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Kurosawa’s original
vision stemmed from a historical Samurai with three sons’ during the Sengoku
period in Japan (same period as <i>Kagemusha). </i>By all historical accounts,
these sons were both moral and loyal to their father. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Yet, Kurosawa wondered what would happen if
they weren’t. This provided the narrative spark for Kurosawa and long-time
writing partners Hideo Oguni and Masato Ide to begin the story. Along the way,
Kurosawa and the writing team leaned more into <i>King Lear</i> than originally
expected, but allowing some considerable differences with the gender swapped
children, and a longer and more complicated backstory for a lot of the
characters which also served as a parallel of </span><a href="https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/great-movie-ran-1985"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Kurosawa’s
own life</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">. As Roger Ebert (2000) wrote in his “Great Movies”
review: “<i>Ran</i> may be as much about Kurosawa’s life as Shakespeare’s play.<i>”</i>,
Hidetori being the director’s surrogate for him to contemplate life, morality,
and disappointment. When looking at Tatsuya Nakadai’s performance through this prism,
his choices that express horror and betrayal can be easily interpreted as the
inner turmoil of Kurosawa with the film industry.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">This turmoil is nowhere
more symbolically expressed than in the siege of the third castle sequence at
the midway point in the film. This sequence shows the slow burning down of the third
castle by Hidetori’s first and second born sons (a shot that was done
practically without miniatures, against the slope of Mt. Fuji). After failing
to find a sword to commit Seppuku as his forces are being overrun and his
castle set ablaze by flaming arrows, Hidetori grief stricken by this betrayal,
exits the burning building rather than succumbing to the flames. Captured in a
single unbroken wide shot of actor Tatsuya Nakadai walking down the stairs of
the castle, the look of bewildered mania frozen on his face becomes the
metaphor for Kurosawa’s feelings of the Japanese cinema at the time. Couple
this with his previous suicide attempt, and resistance to his films in Japan
during the latter half of his career, this sequence plays like an allegory for the
modern film culture of the time forcefully pushing Kurosawa to the fringes,
believing him to be obsolete.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center; text-indent: 0.5in;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrYERreoxgwcCqCyR1I7Q-vlKGqU8CkH2EFOC2i-HQ9W1gKDoApleDTJ956Dnu-rJk5WnGcf571FtrucM_FbsIiMKGFYxwwia2b87D_KKDlQX1NbFQSbvuGghQ81a5vQGfk5X9K-TXeZzQW0MjHjChAe1PyWMD5z5CZH-Tvo1XfbLkCmkNGgQDg3_Glw/s650/img_current_708_192_medium.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="366" data-original-width="650" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrYERreoxgwcCqCyR1I7Q-vlKGqU8CkH2EFOC2i-HQ9W1gKDoApleDTJ956Dnu-rJk5WnGcf571FtrucM_FbsIiMKGFYxwwia2b87D_KKDlQX1NbFQSbvuGghQ81a5vQGfk5X9K-TXeZzQW0MjHjChAe1PyWMD5z5CZH-Tvo1XfbLkCmkNGgQDg3_Glw/w400-h225/img_current_708_192_medium.png" width="400" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><i>Cinematography <o:p></o:p></i></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span></span></i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">During
the production of <i>Ran, </i>the composition of shots were comprised of
Kurosawa’s storyboard paintings (as he had done in <i>Kagemusha)</i> he had
created years earlier. Frequent collaborators: Takao Saito, Masaharu Ueda, and Asakazu
Nakai collectively shot <i>Ran</i> using the storyboard paintings as a
foundation, as Kurosawa couldn’t assist them because by the time principal
photography began, his eyesight had almost completely deteriorated; only
allowing him to set up shots with the help of assistants. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">From a disability
perspective, the adaptations Kurosawa had to make to shoot this film,
predominantly relying on and stitching together wide shots from three simultaneously
running cameras, crafts a cinematic language that is rarely seen, and is never
perfected. The simple example of this is the burning of the third castle. The
sequence is done primarily in a single wide shot deceptively edited together to
look like it was shot in real time; from ignition by the flaming arrows to the smoke-filled
embers of the castle’s remnants, you feel the progression of time as the scene
continues. Kurosawa was willing to burn down the entire set for a single shot
that he could not repeat. Yet, because of his growing impairment, due to his
acquired disability, he kept the camera back, capturing the full scope of the
events rather than focus on the reactions on the faces of the principal
characters. Like a lot of successful Disabled people, they are often praised
for their ingenuity, when because of the necessity of adapting to the
Able-bodied culture, they did not really have much of a choice to exist, or in
Kurosawa’s case, be able to still direct. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">For clarification, I
realize that Kurosawa was well known for his affinity for long lens and wide
shots prior to <i>Ran</i>. However, it was his acquiring of his disability
through aging, that caused him to rely on these shots more while still finding
a way to make them dynamic and compelling. To that end, his Cinematography team
earned a Oscar nomination, and Kurosawa earning his first and only directing
nomination for their work on <i>Ran</i>. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Budget and Accolades <o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">At the time of
production, <i>Ran </i>was one of the most expensive Japanese films in history.
With a budget of 11 million dollars, the filmmakers and crew used 1400 extras
and 200 horses while shooting mostly on location around Mt. Fuji. Making only
19 million dollars at the box office, it was not seen as a financial success.
Yet, <a href="https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/ran">the critical buzz around
the film</a> was hard to ignore. The film is still considered required viewing
for anyone interested in the intersecting, albeit eclectic genres, of literary
criticism, war films, westerns, and period dramas. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Like <i>Kagemusha,</i>
the film was praised for its use of color (based on painted storyboards).
Kurosawa took this a step further with <i>Ran, </i>using actual bright red
paint for blood, liberally slathering it on Extras, pooling it beneath them,
and across back of set dressings to represent arterial spray. Many reviews comment
on the feast of colors that Kurosawa indulges in his final two Samurai films.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Nominated for four
Academy awards, it only won for Costuming. The Nomination of Kurosawa for best
director (the film wasn’t nominated in either best film or foreign language
film) was not so much because the academy believed in Kurosawa’s brilliance
(otherwise they would have nominated him years earlier), but because of a
“write in” campaign spearheaded by Sidney Lumet. Which seems, at Kurosawa’s age,
and this time, more like a legacy nomination more than anything; meaning
Kurosawa was not given the nomination based upon his work on <i>Ran </i>alone,
but because of all of his other previously unrecognized work. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p><br /></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKV3NUJM8WfixdTkgeXLZ7iBbZkzLJRNjIUZCJc73sXIENd_eNrbvmYQaRZ6cKR3m131SiMS2ptxqCa_X-5vIw0KmJcPwswka9p-Ep5_jlNYHSrXSYNgNYGwVhTQ5K4UhwmvhlOgbCORR-yxMOta2YJ3ftA_DEB2B7P2aOGaTseJeEZEgSitjLV5YXzw/s800/ran-5e75c40830cf3.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="310" data-original-width="800" height="155" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKV3NUJM8WfixdTkgeXLZ7iBbZkzLJRNjIUZCJc73sXIENd_eNrbvmYQaRZ6cKR3m131SiMS2ptxqCa_X-5vIw0KmJcPwswka9p-Ep5_jlNYHSrXSYNgNYGwVhTQ5K4UhwmvhlOgbCORR-yxMOta2YJ3ftA_DEB2B7P2aOGaTseJeEZEgSitjLV5YXzw/w400-h155/ran-5e75c40830cf3.png" width="400" /></a></div><br /><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">SOCIAL ANALYIS <o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span></span></b><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Ran
</span></i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">is
a meditation on aging and death.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In
western society, particularly in the US, we are obsessed with youth and
vitality while ignoring the natural process of aging and death.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Often, aging and our inevitable demise is met
with rejection and denial.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Part of this is a result of Capitalism
creating markets through the advertising of beauty, body and health products which
reinforce the cultural desire to stay young and fit; a combination that has
become synonymous with relevant, valued, and important. We don’t have to look
further than the COVID-19 pandemic (which is still ravaging the planet with The
US recently reaching 1 million dead) to see the value we place on the aged and
elderly. In the US, if you are not a “productive” member of society (contribute
to the reproduction of Capitalism) your value as a living human being is
diminished.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Yet,
regardless of this progressive dehumanization of the populace periodically
through the aging process, there is a consistent </span><a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2021/09/14/36percent-of-americans-say-they-wont-have-enough-to-retire-report-finds.html"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">lack
of preparedness</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"> when considering aging in the US. A lot
of the people are working longer and do not have enough to retire comfortably,
let alone die in a manner that gives them peace and dignity. </span><a href="https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/where-people-die-2018103115278"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Around
70% of people die in Hospitals <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>and while there is an increasing trend of
people dying in other places, a person is likely to die within the healthcare
system that is full of alienated <a href="https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/elder-abuse">cruelty to
the elderly</a>, especially in the last years of life. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><i>Aging,
Masculinity and Capitalism <o:p></o:p></i></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Much of this lack of
preparedness and death location is a function of several social factors surrounding
capitalism. Firstly, there is the natural exploitation built into capitalism
which makes it difficult to save for retirement and prepare for death. If you can
save for death, it is usually by entering into the exploitative insurance
market. Additionally, <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>pay gaps, inflation,
equity tied to homeownership, and several other viable criticisms based on </span><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/14/business/retirement-inequality-racism.html"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">racism</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">
and </span><a href="https://www.census.gov/library/stories/2022/01/women-more-likely-than-men-to-have-no-retirement-savings.html"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Sexism</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"> in
connection with capitalism are also factors. Yet, one of the contributing
factors that gets less attention is the way the culture of work and one’s self-identity
is cultivated by their job. However, the question remains: if that culture of
work is conditioned to skew younger (especially in certain types of service
industry jobs), what happens to that identity when you can no longer be defined
by your work?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Many people in the early
days of retirement struggle, as Hidetori struggles in <i>Ran, </i>with an
identity crisis. For Hidetori, he struggles with his changing status after
naming his first born as a successor. The film clearly depicts him having difficulty
with this transition. It is almost as if he is expecting to run a puppet regime
behind the scenes, with his son as a figurehead. Additionally, Hidetori’s plan
to live with each of his sons for part of the year sounds like the demented pipedream
of a pretentious upper middle class white dude that believes his children owe
him something; allowing him to live the rest of his days “in the manner by which
he has become accustomed.” This mentality, like Hidetori’s, is built on the narcissism,
vanity and ego inherit in the toxic parts of masculinity and its relationship
to capitalism. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Masculinity in capitalism
is intricately tied to work. Much of the constructed idea of masculinity in
western societies are built around the idea of work and the provider myth.
Thus, <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>the inevitable release from one’s job can be perceived
as a loss of identity and lead to more <a href="https://academic.oup.com/psychsocgerontology/article/57/3/P212/581321">negative
psychological impacts on cisgendered men</a> than cisgendered women. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is further complicated by our culture also
valuing productivity only though the lens of capitalism, so even if people retire,
they do not feel valued unless they are part of the economy. This leads to
older individuals taking contingent work (part time/seasonal) after retirement,
ultimately taking similar jobs than those that are just entering the workforce
or volunteering their time just to seem useful to themselves and the overall
structure. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Ageism<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">By developing a culture
of work that skews younger and becomes a part of our master status (Social
positions by which we are chiefly defined), we then build systems to reinforce
those cultural norms. Not only is there </span><a href="https://www.amica.ca/conversations/senior-actors-in-hollywood#:~:text=Overall%2C%20seniors%20are%20rarely%20the,senior%20lead%20characters%20and%20actors."><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">a
lack of representation of old age</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"> in media (</span><a href="https://www.buzzfeed.com/hannahmarder/actors-who-played-characters-older-than-them"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">either
older characters being played by younger actors or vice versa</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">),
but when older actors are in roles they are either digitally “de-aged” and/or
use make-up to make them look younger, while still regulating them the
supportive and parental roles. Also, many film and TV roles that show older
individuals in occupations, often to highlight their incompetence. According to
Collins (2000) these are examples of “controlling images” that contribute to systemic
Ageism the United States is founded upon.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Ageism is the individual
and systemic forms of inequality and discrimination a person may experience
because they are considered old by a particular social order.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>While we have several anti-discrimination
laws to minimize the discrimination felt by the elderly, the operation of these
systems and the culture that they embody, allow for the maintenance of this
discrimination. From early retirement incentive programs, tying job competence
to physical ability, and bridge jobs, these mechanisms are designed to remove older
workers from the labor force based upon “The life course” approach. This is the
recognition of the developmental changes based in biology that mold human
behavior from birth to death (Quadagno 2002). The unfortunate result of this
approach, baked into our cultural norms and everyday behaviors, is an invalidation
and contempt for our elderly, both in the very systems that we exist within and
give us social value, but also reinforced through interpersonal communication.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">A lot of interpersonal
communication with the elderly for people in the US is also unfortunately
connected to the negative halo effect. This is the idea that because of a lack
of perceived attractiveness, there is an assumption that an individual will not
have other positive qualities about them. Therefore, because we often do not
see the elderly as attractive, (beauty is a youthful construct after all), we devalue
their knowledge skills and experiences. Instead, we consistently see the
elderly either as a burden or a nuisance. We often take less time to speak with
them, as well as infantilize them with childish speech or baby talk. With all
these systemic and interpersonal barriers is it any wonder, coupled with a
culture that has valued and monetized youthfulness through capitalism, we
resist and deny the realities of aging? Because, based upon the culture we have
created, to age is to accept death, and death is the end.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The contemplation of
Death in Ran </span></i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>In
looking at the systematic study of religion, that is the study of religion as a
social institution, the basic need that all religions satisfy is that it
answers the morality and mortality question(s). One of the knowing questions we
as humans must answer is the value of humanity, and what happens when we die;
essentially because the two truths of existence are that we are living and living
things eventually die. Religion, especially western bureaucratically organized religions,
are certainly not the only way to go about answering these questions, but through
the process of primary socialization within the family, religion becomes the mechanism
by which those answers are achieved most frequently for people; and the way
that religion maintain its relevance from one generation to the next.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Additionally,
because of its bureaucratic organization, religion has a connection with capitalism.
Max Weber (2002) identifies that religion (particularly Protestant Calvinism) cultivates
cultural and social norms that allow capitalism to eventually take root as an economic
system lasting even longer than the religious beliefs that created it. Thus, western
religions (particularly Christianity and Catholicism) that exist within a
Capitalist system often operate through a transactional relationship. Using the
example of Catholicism, as long as parishioners of a particular sect of
religion tithe their time money, energy and effort they are then rewarded with the
comfort and solace in a paradisiac afterlife representative of an individualized
monarch style kingdom. Thus, religion becomes a mechanism of social control by
which capitalism retains solvency. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>In
this commercialized culture of capitalism, death is ignored to keep focus on
youthful economic productivity, until it can’t be anymore; and when it can’t be
ignored, it is commodified. Death, like work, is monetized through a variety of
products and services that are ultimately for the bereaved; the great irony
being for those that believe in a blissful sovereign afterlife often still
mourn for their individual loss of relationships. A cynical conclusion to this
being that the grief felt is an indication of a lack of belief in the proposed
afterlife. Whereas a more charitable, and far more pleasant interpretation, is
that the mourning is a function of the power that person had in shaping the
lives around them.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Looking at death in the
context of Kurosawa’s <i>Ran,</i> we see some of the same commodified cultural
elements described above. Heditori is ignored by most of his Sons, often
believed to be senile, talking to him and reprimanding him as a child, before attempting
patricide. After the first scene where Heditori gave up his position, his two
eldest sons embittered by their father’s cruel treatment of them when they were
children, thinly veil their contempt of him and eventually conspire against him
to commit seppuku. Unable to complete the ritual, and emotionally rattled by
the betrayal of his sons, Heditori has a mental breakdown, and is left to wander
the countryside without a second thought. As Heditori and as his few companions
cope with his emerging mental illness, and reap the ruthlessness of his rule,
he can be viewed as an allegory for elder care in the US, left adrift in a
system that does not care about them, who they were and the sanctity of their life.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiC11KCUD1uqUO_evGRL2p47SR4NsjlBz2YCbdD7y4yk-XdwmommH1LlmEIKpKWEzSb-7G8wiPiOlJcesagEkoqFnc3o1xY9C-Ms9gdLK54W5iwtux0UtOGTcGSc515bQEL2CRiqmQMp1I677BAmjVKjQVYLvsy9xQyhUjXU6RtCHM4N6QrFeQ5VNgX2w/s300/fkBLa2W.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="168" data-original-width="300" height="224" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiC11KCUD1uqUO_evGRL2p47SR4NsjlBz2YCbdD7y4yk-XdwmommH1LlmEIKpKWEzSb-7G8wiPiOlJcesagEkoqFnc3o1xY9C-Ms9gdLK54W5iwtux0UtOGTcGSc515bQEL2CRiqmQMp1I677BAmjVKjQVYLvsy9xQyhUjXU6RtCHM4N6QrFeQ5VNgX2w/w400-h224/fkBLa2W.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">CONCLUSION <o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Kurosawa’s <i>Ran </i>is
a masterful meditation of aging and death that is one of the greatest cinematic
feasts for the eyes that almost never was. It is clear that Kurosawa was
projecting a lot of himself into the character of Heditori and wondering whether
or not his lifetime of making films was worth it, and what his legacy will be.
If this series of essays on the <a href="https://thesociologistsdojo.blogspot.com/search/label/The%20Chambara%20Films%20of%20Akira%20Kurosawa?m=0">Chambara
films of Akira Kurosawa</a> has consistently shown anything, it is the genius
of Kurosawa as a filmmaker and the enormous value he has as a director.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>While <i>Ran</i> is not my favorite Kurosawa
film, (that is still held by <i><a href="http://thesociologistsdojo.blogspot.com/2021/08/the-chambara-films-of-akira-kurosawa.html?m=0">Seven
Samurai</a>) </i>it shows that age and acquiring a disability does not diminish
one’s ability to create great art.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Recommendations </span></i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Finally, here at the end
of this series, I hope that readers also go back and check out Kurosawa’s other
films not involving Samurai. If you are interested in his other Shakespearean adaptations,
may I suggest <i>The Bad Sleep Well (</i>adaptation of <i>Hamlet)</i>. If readers
liked the film <a href="http://thesociologistsdojo.blogspot.com/2020/02/the-high-and-low-of-bong-joon-hos.html">Parasite
by Bong Joon Ho please watch Kurosawa’s <i>High/Low</i>.<i> </i></a>If readers
enjoyed this brief analysis of Weber and how its connected to Kurosawa, his
film <i>Ikiru </i>is a contemplative and morosely accurate portrayal of life
within a Weberian bureaucracy. Mostly, I just want people to be exposed to more
of Kurosawa’s work, as he is one of the greatest filmmakers who ever lived. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">REFERENCES <o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; text-indent: -.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Collins,
Patricia Hill 2000. <i>Black Feminist Thought: Knowledge Consciousness and the
Politics of Empowerment </i>New York: Routledge <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; text-indent: -.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; text-indent: -.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Ebert,
Roger 2000. “Great Movies: Ran Review” <i>Rodgerebert.com </i>Retrieved on
6/5/2022 Retrived at: <a href="https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/great-movie-ran-1985">https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/great-movie-ran-1985</a>
<i><o:p></o:p></i></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; text-indent: -.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Quadagno,
Jill 2002. <i>Aging and the Life Course: An Introduction to Social Gerontology (2<sup>nd</sup>)
eds.</i> New York: McGraw Hill <i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; text-indent: -.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; text-indent: -.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Weber,
Max 2002. <i>The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism and other Writings</i>
New York: Penguin Publishing <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><br /><p></p>Brian Brutlaghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08099644007940320266noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8714941782515128558.post-77385939909925847222022-05-03T15:24:00.000-07:002022-05-03T15:24:38.534-07:00The Chambara Films of Akira Kurosawa: Kagemusha<p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisqDV6SBsR0EsoMnfSXSNY0WbfE3AxvUh8Cz2fn0gGhqa3rnVYacL9ZL1_zqHqn5nIJhSQ2Q42FprYf6KTmChBDS1ovKWhodHBGQlWy6PpFBo9pOsybZ4lU9HgFvzh15pHJnbIVDF4QfbozXQMSSLO5c-MpXeWzj8erMFUC_2pY6eK5BsAM5Jn0rjBaw/s3661/7_sammy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3661" data-original-width="2472" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisqDV6SBsR0EsoMnfSXSNY0WbfE3AxvUh8Cz2fn0gGhqa3rnVYacL9ZL1_zqHqn5nIJhSQ2Q42FprYf6KTmChBDS1ovKWhodHBGQlWy6PpFBo9pOsybZ4lU9HgFvzh15pHJnbIVDF4QfbozXQMSSLO5c-MpXeWzj8erMFUC_2pY6eK5BsAM5Jn0rjBaw/w270-h400/7_sammy.jpg" width="270" /></a></div><p style="text-align: center;"><br /></p><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The
seventh and penultimate film in my analysis of the Chambara films of Akira
Kurosawa is the arrestingly stylish epic <i>Kagemusha</i>. Developed and
produced during the latter third of Kurosawa’s career, the brilliance of this
period drama is often muted by the “drama of its production” and the presence
of the ‘70’s darlings’ George Lucas and Frances Ford Coppola during the height
of their powers: after they created ‘the blockbuster’, but before they
themselves became the “new studio system”. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The pulling of focus ultimately undermines the
legacy of this film. Its overall commentary on the dehumanization of the
Japanese Feudal caste system, and the self-construction of a duplicitous
dynasty which futilely attempts to hold on to power after their Lords death,
goes under-appreciated. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/JmB9f-bgu5o" width="320" youtube-src-id="JmB9f-bgu5o"></iframe></div><br /><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">PLOT <o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">As a precaution to
protect the Leader of the Takeda Clan, Shingen Takeda, his brother Nobukado,
finds a thief to impersonate Shingen during potentially hostile events. When
Shingen dies from wounds sustained in battle, this “shadow warrior” must take
his place full time for a period of two years, to assure a peaceful transfer of
power to Shingen’s grandson.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>However, as
the weeks turn into months, and the peasant “look-alike” becomes more
comfortable in his role and used to the trappings of wealth and power, his
ambition threatens to expose the ruse. The inner circle attempts to thwart his
desires, lest the Takeda Clan’s plan falls like a house of cards, thereby
leaving it in ruin. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">HISTORICAL CONTEXT</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>This
film marks several firsts in Kurosawa’s career. It is the first film Kurosawa
shot in color (more on this later), It is the first-time getting financing
outside of the Japanese Toho system, and it is the first time that Kurosawa
created a Chambara film that is based upon specific historical events and
people rather than just period specific themes. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Set
during the Sengoku time of Japanese history, commonly referred to as the
“warring states period” (period of civil unrest between 1500-1600) out of which
came the (in)famous Tokugawa Shogunate; which not only unified Japan, but also began
to bridge the gap with the west through the entrance of Christian missionaries.
Kurosawa was drawn to this time because of the mystery surrounding the actions
of the Takeda clan during the battle of Nagashino. In that battle, all of the
soldiers in the Takeda clan died, but no one in the Oda/Tokugawa clans died. Confused
by this action, Kurosawa began to craft a story that would explain this, and tie
in the historical use of doubles for royal protection (Rayns 1981). Kurosawa
felt that the immersion of “The Double” into the life of Shingen, coupled with
the strength of Shingen’s actual character, would cause “The Double” to become
him. Thus, his subordinates would then be willing to martyr themselves through “suicide”
at the battle of Nahashino. To that end, Kurosawa took Shingen’s battle
standards of: “Swift as the wind, as silent as the forest, as sweeping as fire,
as immovable as the mountain.” (Shingen himself taking the quote from Sun Tzu) and
used them as a unbeatable battle strategy (and important plot point) (Rayns
1981). Just like he depicted the movable forest in <i>Throne of Blood</i>, the
moving mountain spells doom in <i>Kagemusha. <o:p></o:p></i></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span></span></i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Even
though Kurosawa was working with historical figures, that did not stop him from
taking dramatic license in some areas of the storytelling. In <i>Kagemusha, </i>he
intentionally depicts Shingen’s historical antagonists (Tokugawa and Nobunaga)
as noticeably younger men than they were.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Add to this the historical understanding that both Nobunaga and Tokugawa
were “more modern” than the average Japanese at the time (believing the earth
to be round, and knowledgeable about the world outside of Japan) being an
active importer from abroad (Rayns 1981). While Kurosawa did not set out to
make a film about the beginning of Japan’s transition out of the Feudal period,
in part because it would take a few more wars and hundreds of years for Japan
to really begin to modernize during the Meji era, but Kurosawa understood that
it was a “more modern” sensibility that could defeat Shingen and be used as a
visual foil for Shingen’s son, whose actions cause the Clan’s collapse. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4smAiiGpFiUg7lkHxjKSPn_g3LZHTXiekWqiNdEW3ulQ01qEvg85QDAmS-BBvYcMv_0wIxvPs5qCPB30K91nQt20Y6C_9wbxd7J_oLb5WVbZzChWQzAfvgYuCIXqAPFgFBc8kwYmCv5Xb7rhLvSi4sXAMo-XTOYpQlyflJE-4n2uqqmvqJ7O0IYmiFw/s1080/11095081_0.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="635" data-original-width="1080" height="235" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4smAiiGpFiUg7lkHxjKSPn_g3LZHTXiekWqiNdEW3ulQ01qEvg85QDAmS-BBvYcMv_0wIxvPs5qCPB30K91nQt20Y6C_9wbxd7J_oLb5WVbZzChWQzAfvgYuCIXqAPFgFBc8kwYmCv5Xb7rhLvSi4sXAMo-XTOYpQlyflJE-4n2uqqmvqJ7O0IYmiFw/w400-h235/11095081_0.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /> <o:p></o:p><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Production<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The origin of <i>Kagemusha</i>
began after Kurosawa’s long and difficult shoot on <i>Red Beard</i> in 1965. Kurosawa
was intrigued by rulers that would have multiple identities in different
situations (Grilli 2009). Still a fan of Shakespeare, the original conception
of <i>Kagemusha </i>began as an adaption of <i>King Lear; </i>something
Kurosawa would eventually complete just a few years later with <i>Ran </i>in
1985. Yet, in 1965, a medieval Samurai epic was unclear in the mind of Kurosawa,
who was consistently distracted by other projects and problems (Grilli 2009).<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">By the time Kurosawa made
his way back to “The Shadow Warrior” in the late 1970’s, it was after a
somewhat tarnished reputation from a series of missteps, setbacks, and failures
in the intervening years.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After directing
<i>Red Beard, </i>Kurosawa’s name became synonymous with tyrannical behavior on
set, fluid schedules, and ballooning budgets (Grilli 2009). Also during this
time, feeling too restricted by the studio demands, he attempted to create his
own production company with three other legendary Japanese directors: Masaki
Kobayashi<i>,</i> Kon Ichikawa, and Keisuke Kinoshita. This inundated Kurosawa
with a lot of business distraction that impacted his overall cinematic
creativity, resulting in the 1970’s commercial failure of <i>Dodes’ka-den</i>.
This failure, and the collapse of the production company, led Kurosawa to begin
to compromise his artistic vision by being drawn into the production of <i>Tora,
Tora, Tora,</i> co-produced by Hollywood.<i> </i>While he eventually left the
project over creative differences<a href="https://d.docs.live.net/bb5a620476910e43/Documents/Sociologists%20Dojo/Kagemusha%20Review%20.docx#_ftn1" name="_ftnref1" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn1;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[1]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>, this experience added to
his reputation for being impossible to work with, causing Kurosawa to descend
into a suicidal depression in December of 1971 (Grilli 2009). He eventually experienced
a spiritual resurgence after winning the Best Foreign Language Oscar in 1975
for <i>Dersu Uzala, </i>but the damage was done, and he found the financing for
<i>Kagemusha </i>to be next to impossible. Enter George Lucas and Francis Ford
Coppola.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center; text-indent: 0.5in;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="317" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/m124XTrIO78" width="460" youtube-src-id="m124XTrIO78"></iframe></div><br /><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">George Lucas, Francis
Ford Coppola, Steven Spielberg, Brian DePalma, Martin Scorsese and John Millius
were a part of the cinematic revolution of the 1970’s. They were integral in
shifting Hollywood away from the dominant Studio system, born in the 1930’s, to
more independent, director focused cinema. In the late 70’s, these directors
were the young “hotshots”; transforming the way films were made; but they also
were big fans of Kurosawa; George Lucas being especially vocal about the
influence Kurosawa’s work had on 1978’s <i>Star Wars</i>. So, when Lucas and
Coppola heard that one of their idols couldn’t get the complete financing for
his next project, they used their clout in the industry at the time, to convince
American studios to give Toho the money to produce and complete the film (Criterion
2009). By their own accounts, Lucas and Coppola would take edited dailies from <i>Kagemusha
</i>and present them to different studios to try and convince them to back the
film’s completion. In the end, it was 20<sup>th</sup> Century Fox that supplied
the rest of the capital necessary to finish the film; in part, or in total, to
keep George Lucas happy, due to his massive success for them with <i>Star Wars</i>.
Thus, “the circle was now complete”, and George Lucas was able to use his
“blank check” status at Fox, to pay Kurosawa back for being such an inspiration/model
for him. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Additionally, what made
the pitch by Lucas and Coppola even easier, was Kurosawa’s painted storyboards,
all of which were used in the presentation to the studios. Having painted as a
hobby when he was younger, Kurosawa returned to this passion with vigor in the
intervening years as he struggled with <i>Kagemusha</i>’s financing. Kurosawa
visualized the epic so intricately in these paintings, that it convinced art
director Yoshiro Muraki and cinematographers Kazuo Miyagawa and Asakazu Nakai,
to have <i>Kagemusha </i>be the first of Kurosawa’s films to be shot in color; to
create a painting in celluloid. When you look at the comparison between
Kurosawa’s images and the finished film, it is visual poetry set in motion.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">One of the interesting ironies
of this film, and “late stage” Kurosawa in general, is that even though his
later work gets either overshadowed by the film’s production, or unnecessarily
compared to his earlier work, the later films of his career still inspire other
films that pay homage to both Kurosawa and his work.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A lot of<i> Kagemusha </i>can be seen in such
films as <i>Dave </i>(1993), <i>The Man in the Iron Mask</i> (1998), <i>The
Devil’s Double</i> (2011), and most directly, <i>Shadow </i>(2018) by Zhang
Yimou, who substitutes ancient China for Feudal Japan. According to Matt Seitz
(2019), Yimou’s openly derivative film pales in comparison because Kurosawa was
“better at making the talking bits exciting, too.” And I tend to agree. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQ6pBTFjr82oELHXlPzdeNdMTCg8wcNaxG9naE9zuaU0WeptHL21TRYH1ZFnhjg9mPMvRMvOIs-RY6pPUnkGXek5VsW7RUbCE5i9lgtCf1CQsgLmrFvjrxBHl_ZGupjhlzV_1hSwhfvnxpus-e8m_Djutg8aOtSCjB2DQHD5b2hn_52KgLdKfJ4hxE8A/s1920/9f3ddff55bafb36c2d8017685778294c.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQ6pBTFjr82oELHXlPzdeNdMTCg8wcNaxG9naE9zuaU0WeptHL21TRYH1ZFnhjg9mPMvRMvOIs-RY6pPUnkGXek5VsW7RUbCE5i9lgtCf1CQsgLmrFvjrxBHl_ZGupjhlzV_1hSwhfvnxpus-e8m_Djutg8aOtSCjB2DQHD5b2hn_52KgLdKfJ4hxE8A/w400-h225/9f3ddff55bafb36c2d8017685778294c.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">SOCIAL ANALYSIS <o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span></span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The
essential story of <i>Kagemusha </i>revolves around a man forcibly trying to
take on the life of someone else. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Yet,
through the development of a convincing impersonation, the person ultimately begins
to believe the part that has been thrust upon them<a href="https://d.docs.live.net/bb5a620476910e43/Documents/Sociologists%20Dojo/Kagemusha%20Review%20.docx#_ftn2" name="_ftnref2" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn2;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[2]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>. This has Sociological
implications in the work of Berger and Luckmann’s <i>Social Construction of
Reality</i> and Goffman’s <i>Presentation of Self. </i>However, before getting
into those specifics, there are also general Sociological implications of class
dynamics, and the way we are folded into a larger social system, that needs to
be addressed.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Kurosawa
understood very clearly the importance of the use of doubles for people in power.
The use of “the decoy” is a common military strategy to achieve success.
However, historically, that success was achieved by the dehumanization of
(usually) the underclass. They become as Foucault (1990) states “the docile
bodies” by which the will of the powerful is enacted upon, and through which
they maintain their sovereignty. This violation of human rights was often
masked through the rationalization of conscription, where peasants were
compulsorily “inducted” into military service. The authority of the ruling
class (usually justified through some manner of divinity) then used the bodies
of their charges to protect the sanctity of their own lives, and the order they
have established.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Taken
more broadly, this idea of conscription can be used as an analogous metaphor for
the general process of socialization; but instead of military service, we are
forced into labor to become productive, law-abiding members of society. Most
everyone socialized into any society (but especially within the US) is taught
to enter the workforce. This is the culmination of (usually) decades long
learning and social investment in an individual. Yet, like Shingen’s “shadow
warrior”, We, the past, present, and future labor force are trained, then
forced to supplant each other. The cycle is usually the same: we spend the
first part of our lives learning to take the jobs that others are currently
doing. When we get those jobs, we feel, as “The Double” felt, that we do
not/cannot measure up. Then, as we get comfortable, we begin to believe that we
have earned our positions through our experiential trials (The Double’s
presence on the battlefield) and become willing to (sometimes literally) kill
ourselves for our work; whether that be through a lifetime of harsh labor that
destroys our bodies, or our identities becoming so wrapped up in what we do, that
when we are ritualistically supplanted (retirements) many do not know what to
do, or even who they are.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">One of the seemingly
innocuous, but secretly toxic phrases that illustrates Kurosawa’s “shadow
warrior” analogy for the socialization of the general labor force, is the phrase:
“Fake it, till you Make it.” This is the advice that is given to Shingen’s
double in <i>Kagemusha;</i> and it is the same advice that is spewed out in countless
commencement speeches every year at high schools, colleges, and Universities
across the country. On the surface, this statement is supposed to generate
solidarity; that we are all in this together, because no one knows what they
are doing. That, by the simple act of going through the motions enough times to
breed familiarity, it will magically generate comfortability, and therefore
confidence. Outside of just how objectively terrifying the idea is that many
people in positions of power such as policymakers, rulers, and the like, actively
don’t know what they are doing (Openly evil is sometimes easier to reconcile
than straight incompetence); what a lot of people miss about this overtilled “faux
inspirational statement”, is the way that it purposefully conditions and normalizes
feelings of uncertainty and apprehension in order to keep the public docile,
while placating the already established system without providing any means of
challenging it.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center; text-indent: 0.5in;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiys58ZkBssCax3PV1WyZU5sndllBaGzSzkgulv9ZoLFNMnXe7awWodS1v9sgKqwq-3NNp6iTK4-xRmbS8l4RQuOrPJsGRAXRzR15nqGy74Resv-Xbm79GGTbS0Zf4PDQUFfo5p7nyp_muh710sVsSE0qaK5HReGctt6f4GQQxoKeOnIbIFqs41z1D-Eg/s1184/cbfyBJGxKGbL6Kg5mFBwwlcLjymysR1HXUMXrFVM7Vk.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1184" data-original-width="800" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiys58ZkBssCax3PV1WyZU5sndllBaGzSzkgulv9ZoLFNMnXe7awWodS1v9sgKqwq-3NNp6iTK4-xRmbS8l4RQuOrPJsGRAXRzR15nqGy74Resv-Xbm79GGTbS0Zf4PDQUFfo5p7nyp_muh710sVsSE0qaK5HReGctt6f4GQQxoKeOnIbIFqs41z1D-Eg/w270-h400/cbfyBJGxKGbL6Kg5mFBwwlcLjymysR1HXUMXrFVM7Vk.jpg" width="270" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Berger, Luckmann and
Goffman <o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">When we get into the
specific theoretical concepts that <i>Kagemusha </i>represents we have to turn
to the work of Berger, Luckmann and Goffman.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The basic principles of <i>The Social Construction of Reality</i> and <i>The
Presentation of Self</i> are as follows:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: .5in;"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The
Social Construction of Reality </span></i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">is a cornerstone of
Social Constructionism. <span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Social
Constructionism</span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"> </b>contends that
individuals within society are defining, and therefore creating, the world
around them through social interactions as a type of communal exchange.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Therefore, our understanding about the world
cannot take place without other people. It is a social process. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Important
aspects <o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="margin-bottom: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">1)<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">We
are born blank (Tabula Rasa), without an understanding of reality that is then
filled in by social norms, rituals, and routines. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-bottom: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">2)<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Individuals
actively participate in the creation and maintenance of the world around them
just by living and interacting with in a society, with a particular social
order.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-bottom: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">3)<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The
understanding of the world, including those that we take as concrete truths, have
the ability to change based upon the influence of social forces, history and
the shifting perception of the populace. (<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">it
is like water)</i><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-bottom: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">4)<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Just
because something is a social construction does not diminish its value or
importance. Something that can be social constructed, fluid with history, and
impacted by social forces can cause, create, and maintain consequences.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>These consequences can be both positive
and/or negative <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="margin-bottom: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">5)<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Conversely,
a consequence that is so extreme or persistent in a particular society (e.g.
forms of racism and sexism) can partially solidify the socially constructed
term. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Thus making it seem natural to
those within the social structure.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></b>It
is through this process, and the results of consequences and practices, that
the object or term becomes “real”.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .25in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">In
the context of the film, “The Shadow Warrior” became the real Shingen when he
was validated by others around him (especially the grandson), when his presence
on the battlefield resulted in the consequence of the battle’s success, and
people’s willingness to die for him. He became the real Shingen through his
interactions with others, and the consequences attached to those experiences.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifqTJJTFvwvWBHQW_h0Hz7nV9tYC6u_a7xpIYpMnInxUyR9hlDgcG4cNcn_q2d62up4bxYcBz_miX9XunfLBIt7ikmIhzZPS7hhpzMVlDjVu-WcKTzF7kpER2dW2m2j8MMCrXzH5uY31Ih6NIlFirV1wxGOzPQCkrhjZ3OLaacnKJg8wkYY30bGM1FQw/s720/B9lSVCGIAAM7LCK.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="387" data-original-width="720" height="215" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifqTJJTFvwvWBHQW_h0Hz7nV9tYC6u_a7xpIYpMnInxUyR9hlDgcG4cNcn_q2d62up4bxYcBz_miX9XunfLBIt7ikmIhzZPS7hhpzMVlDjVu-WcKTzF7kpER2dW2m2j8MMCrXzH5uY31Ih6NIlFirV1wxGOzPQCkrhjZ3OLaacnKJg8wkYY30bGM1FQw/w400-h215/B9lSVCGIAAM7LCK.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">Similarly, </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">coming out of the
Sociological study of Dramaturgy, the study of social interactions by invoking
Theatrical terms, Goffman saw the theatre as a metaphor for social
interactions. For Goffman (1959), we all perform our “selves/ identities” for a
particular audience. Aided by the Teamwork of our fellow Actors, we all
participate in Impression Management and Performance, both on a micro
(individual level) and Macro (the group impression) level. According to Goffman
(1959), there are two types of impressions that exist. Impressions that are
given, (This is what you openly present to people either verbally or through a
sense of self definition) and Impressions that are given off (This is insight
or information that someone gleans from observing your behavior). Since
impressions that are “Given off” are more powerful in determining our “Self”,
Goffman says these are the impressions we attempt to control…in other words, we
attempt to control how other people see us. We do this through products
(clothing, cars, etc.), behaviors, languages, and the way that we speak (slang,
rate of speech). Goffman’s work understands that this process takes place in
two different stages: <span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">The Front Stage
and The Back Stage. The front stage is where the performance is given and where
the audience members for that performance is located.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is the space for individual performances
of a particular impression, and the space where teamwork is done to maintain a
group impression.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Back Stage is
where the performance is dropped and worked on. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Goffman (1959) elucidates that we all have
multiple Statuses and Roles we need to play in our society. Each of these
statuses, and their corresponding roles, have their own Front Stage performance
and Back Stage maintenance. These different stages for different impressions
overlap with one another. Which is why Goffman says that the world is divided
into Front Stages and Back Stages. One performance’s Front Stage is another
performance’s Back Stage…we are constantly performing. Yet, things get interesting,
and more closely related to the double’s experience in <i>Kagemusha, </i>when
you combine these Goffmanian ideas with Charles Horton Cooley’s idea of “The
Looking Glass self”<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">“The looking glass self” is a theory of
self-construction by Charles Horton Cooley. According to Cooley (1902), the
perception of our self is dictated by our interpretations of interactions and
reactions that we have with others daily. Therefore, we get an idea about who
we are by the way other people treat us. If we get positive treatment, it will
more likely lead to a positive self-concept. The opposite is also valid. This
implies that when we upset someone (especially someone that we know) the
compassion and empathy we feel to reconcile with that person, is coming from a
desire to mend our own self-concept. If we don’t feel the desire to reconcile,
then that person’s reaction matters little to us (or, more accurately, they
matter little to the formation of our self-concept). Unfortunately, this also
implies that all of our interactions and relationships are motivated by
self-interest.<a href="https://d.docs.live.net/bb5a620476910e43/Documents/Sociologists%20Dojo/Kagemusha%20Review%20.docx#_ftn3" name="_ftnref3" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn3;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[3]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a> Additionally,
this means that much of who we are (in terms of self-construction) is based on
other people’s actions toward us.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">When we combine Goffman’s ideas of Impression Management with Cooley’s
“looking glass self”, what we realize, is that it creates an <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">elaborate and purposeful form of self-deception
to maintain the social order</b>. We solidify in others how we want to be
perceived, but that in turn, shapes the perception of our selves. We are
manufacturing support and “evidence” for our own self construction, which
thereby helps the larger impression of a functional, productive, and stable
society. This is the last wish of Shingen Takeda, the goal of the Daiymio’s
council, and the plight of the “Kagemusha” so completely, that “The Double” is
willing to die with the rest of the Takeda soldiers, to prove his loyalty in a
final sacrificial display.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFaMNfF-riH7JovK3pzm3P5Vsltyo9VF6U9L21_RtOxryxidAhUGeld5e6hKcQvrsrIPQO3aLNXHZw_mCOMvRDoqyc-gs4uAnWomlyikFCi3qe2PnEwacNGG14mRek5lnQP_otcxfSG2FrKw0QlV1Wq1cM1v3eziP6auHVtH7C6XDFHtQM_07-5TA-qA/s1920/fkBLa2W.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1032" data-original-width="1920" height="215" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFaMNfF-riH7JovK3pzm3P5Vsltyo9VF6U9L21_RtOxryxidAhUGeld5e6hKcQvrsrIPQO3aLNXHZw_mCOMvRDoqyc-gs4uAnWomlyikFCi3qe2PnEwacNGG14mRek5lnQP_otcxfSG2FrKw0QlV1Wq1cM1v3eziP6auHVtH7C6XDFHtQM_07-5TA-qA/w400-h215/fkBLa2W.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">CONCLUSION<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span></span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">In all of Kurosawa’s Chambara filmography, <i>Kagemusha </i>often gets
overlooked. Even as a product of “late stage” Kurosawa, that conversation
usually gets monopolized by <i>Ran; </i>leaving this masterpiece without
recognition.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When looking at this
through a sociological lens, as we continue to exist in this ever-corporatized
dehumanization of the labor force, many of us may empathize with the “Kagemusha”,
feeling that we too are “the shadow”. Like him, we desire for acceptance and
validation from a system we know, deep down, we will never get; certainly not in
equal measure to what we put into it. We may love our jobs, but our jobs will
never love us back. Ultimately, that is the crux of the problem. We shouldn’t
love our jobs to begin with, and we sure as shit shouldn’t die for them. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">REFERENCES<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; text-indent: -.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">Criterion Collection 2009. “Lucas, Coppola and
Kurosawa” from <i>Criterion Blu-Ray Edition Spine 267<o:p></o:p></i></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; text-indent: -.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">Cooley Charles H. 1902. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“The looking Glass self” in <i>Human Nature
and the Social Order <o:p></o:p></i></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; text-indent: -.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">Berger, Peter and Thomas Luckmann 1966. <i>The
Social Construction of Reality: A Treatise in the Sociology of Knowledge</i>
New York: Anchor Books<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; text-indent: -.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">Foucault, Michel 1990 <i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Discipline and Punish: The Birth of Prisons</i>
New York: Vantage Books<i> <o:p></o:p></i></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; text-indent: -.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">Goffman Erving 1959. <i>The Presentation of
self in Everyday Life</i>. New York: Anchor Books <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; text-indent: -.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">Grilli Peter 2009. “Kagemusha: From Painting
to Film Pageantry” in <i>Current </i>Retrieved on 5/1/2022 Retrieved at: </span><a href="https://www.criterion.com/current/posts/360-kagemusha-from-painting-to-film-pageantry"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">https://www.criterion.com/current/posts/360-kagemusha-from-painting-to-film-pageantry</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;"> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; text-indent: -.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">Rayns Tony 1981. “Talking with the Director” in
<i>Sight and Sound</i> Included in the booklet on the Criterion Blu-ray <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; text-indent: -.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">Seitz, Mathew Zoller 2019. “Shadow Review” in <i>RogerEbert.com</i>
retrieved on 5/1/2022 retrieved at <a href="https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/shadow-2019">https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/shadow-2019</a>
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: .5in;"><u><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p><span style="text-decoration: none;"> </span></o:p></span></u></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<div style="mso-element: footnote-list;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><br clear="all" />
<hr align="left" size="1" width="33%" />
<!--[endif]-->
<div id="ftn1" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<p class="MsoFootnoteText"><a href="https://d.docs.live.net/bb5a620476910e43/Documents/Sociologists%20Dojo/Kagemusha%20Review%20.docx#_ftnref1" name="_ftn1" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn1;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[1]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
How do you say “No” to a Kurosawa suggestion?<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="ftn2" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<p class="MsoFootnoteText"><a href="https://d.docs.live.net/bb5a620476910e43/Documents/Sociologists%20Dojo/Kagemusha%20Review%20.docx#_ftnref2" name="_ftn2" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn2;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[2]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a> Vonnegut
would enjoy this <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="ftn3" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<p class="MsoFootnoteText"><a href="https://d.docs.live.net/bb5a620476910e43/Documents/Sociologists%20Dojo/Kagemusha%20Review%20.docx#_ftnref3" name="_ftn3" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn3;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[3]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a> <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">This seems to only hold up with US Socialization patterns.</span><o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
</div><br /><p></p>Brian Brutlaghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08099644007940320266noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8714941782515128558.post-84007098664584293412022-04-03T12:31:00.000-07:002022-04-03T12:31:28.284-07:00The Chambara Films of Akira Kurosawa: Yojimbo and Sanjuro <p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQZEhYCCvX-UDhTobeANH0b_DgSG7slJ0WPYt33AyyJ9uXpquLe2cHZ15fT6Wv4ea8Rb2YtettCXWtfsk-ri_9RL_BOGK4CyzfnYSKHIGCUCSFgpRWWTAwWHKNMk0Z9vukocI3lJk5WHSq-sppACP0EQPz2-tIbDFAVWhdk7Q_znZFCb9QjI5pOL2pJQ/s1500/01.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1500" data-original-width="1207" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQZEhYCCvX-UDhTobeANH0b_DgSG7slJ0WPYt33AyyJ9uXpquLe2cHZ15fT6Wv4ea8Rb2YtettCXWtfsk-ri_9RL_BOGK4CyzfnYSKHIGCUCSFgpRWWTAwWHKNMk0Z9vukocI3lJk5WHSq-sppACP0EQPz2-tIbDFAVWhdk7Q_znZFCb9QjI5pOL2pJQ/w321-h400/01.jpg" width="321" /></a></div><br /><p style="text-align: center;"><br /></p><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The
fifth and sixth films in my analysis of the Chambara films of Akira Kurosawa
are the delectable duology of <i>Yojimbo </i>and <i>Sanjuro. </i>This review is
going to tackle both amazing films simultaneously, as this is the first and
only pair of films in Kurosawa’s filmography that are anthological sequels to
each other (involving the same primary protagonist). While these films were
very commercially successful, they also continued the cycle of cinematic
influences and homages between Chambara films and the Western film genre.
Additionally, the westernization of the Ronin (Masterless Samurai) became an
ideal, and its archetype was inserted into a variety of stories masking the
interesting aspects and differences of class, status, and prestige just before
the Meji era.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/y_1iT_GmHTE" width="320" youtube-src-id="y_1iT_GmHTE"></iframe></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">PLOT <o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span></span></b><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Yojimbo<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Sanjuro,
a Ronin (Toshiro Mifune) comes upon a town under the thumb of two warring
factions. After witnessing the plight and poverty of the townspeople he sets a
plan in motion to wipe them both out and free the people from under their yoke.
After demonstrating his sword skills, he hires on as a “bodyguard” for both
factions attempting to undermine both and pit them against each other.
Following a few setbacks, he releases the town from their oppressors through a impressive
display of violence, and moves on to the next adventure <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Uq_rSsbhQnE" width="320" youtube-src-id="Uq_rSsbhQnE"></iframe></div><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><i>Sanjuro<o:p></o:p></i></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Sanjuro
(Toshiro Mifune) overhears a group of young Samurai plotting to weed out the
corruption in their clan. Out of a combination of compassion and veiled hopeful
idealism, the masterless samurai decides to help them free their clan’s
Chamberlain. As in <i>Yojimbo</i>, he employs subtle trickery to gain the
confidence of the immoral Superintendent and his honorable Henchman Hanbei. After
the mission’s success, the young Samurai witness a fatal duel Sanjuro has with
Hanbei on the outskirts of town; after which, Sanjuro, “the Bodyguard” moves on
to the next adventure.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></p>
<p></p><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVt3wK39V_Zr4akI205B5JhNfsf596aosSgI0wQMjpopqNfMpLRtCQAG38f4TqM0gVIx3TPIdhs2DkCgxVzITvqrrd9JOTBw5NcESqtl1LKdiEFzJRltTrFEWGoZjFd4F3lr2pYy-beK5dWwRMya4lDoSJJWL3XwlxqQA2VQ2LCoUJPFlRTtFIgXg6vg/s2048/7_sammy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1273" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVt3wK39V_Zr4akI205B5JhNfsf596aosSgI0wQMjpopqNfMpLRtCQAG38f4TqM0gVIx3TPIdhs2DkCgxVzITvqrrd9JOTBw5NcESqtl1LKdiEFzJRltTrFEWGoZjFd4F3lr2pYy-beK5dWwRMya4lDoSJJWL3XwlxqQA2VQ2LCoUJPFlRTtFIgXg6vg/w249-h400/7_sammy.jpg" width="249" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1mDKhl50VNfrsgNrIZnBrggVTzZ6gfkEDcJ3J9_nMBIh5ypwEJ93KjVWOq7Rj-RujeoWfJBZcDFGky4wnWFL2k6PQPgUChKcYI8GhNf56Qvw4cJKJcvCNtvR43MctlOF4ScS2_bPb6GGI4NV8okSAVIo3sfXufWKDsJ9QuWZQvKvVg2BnanggTedkvg/s678/9f3ddff55bafb36c2d8017685778294c.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="678" data-original-width="540" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1mDKhl50VNfrsgNrIZnBrggVTzZ6gfkEDcJ3J9_nMBIh5ypwEJ93KjVWOq7Rj-RujeoWfJBZcDFGky4wnWFL2k6PQPgUChKcYI8GhNf56Qvw4cJKJcvCNtvR43MctlOF4ScS2_bPb6GGI4NV8okSAVIo3sfXufWKDsJ9QuWZQvKvVg2BnanggTedkvg/s320/9f3ddff55bafb36c2d8017685778294c.jpg" width="255" /></a></div><p></p><p></p><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">HISTORICAL CONTEXT <o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>By
looking at the production of these two films, along with the cyclical
relationship between Chambara films and the Hollywood Western, <i>Yojimbo</i>
and <i>Sanjuro</i>, changed filmmaking and help make Akira Kurosawa into an
international cinematic icon, while creating a template for action filmmaking
that often gets reused for its cinematic palpability.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Production<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Kurosawa wrote both <i>Yojimbo
</i>and<i> Sanjuro </i>with his regular collaborators Ryūzō Kikushima and Hideo
Ogun; the same team behind a lot of his Chambara films (such as <i>Seven
Samurai and Throne of Blood)</i>. In addition to western classics like <i>High
Noon</i> and <i>Shane</i>, Kurosawa also took inspiration from film noir,
another popular genre at the time. This was also the second collaboration with cinematographer
Kazuio Miyagawa, reteaming for the first time since <i>Rashomon, </i>where
Miyagawa, had to come up with a way to film directly at the sun without burning
the (film) stock. On <i>Yojimbo, </i>Kurosawa wanted Miyagawa to maintain
Pan-focus. According to Miyagawa, in an interview with Criterion:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“</span><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;">Everything
had to be in the perfect focus, whether it was right in front of you or in the
very rear of the shot. So, we decided work on a spectrum of tones that would
accentuate the contrast as much as possible and give objects a hard metallic
edge.” <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></i><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">(</span></i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Criterion
2006).<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Miyagawa also tells the story of this one shot set
underneath the floor of the house where Sanjuro (Toshiro Mifune) was trying to
escape his captors. Because there was minimal space underneath the set as it
was built, he could not fit himself or a cameraman in the space with Mifune.
Thus, he had to marionette different lenses during the shot to keep everything
in focus during each take.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>One common understanding in film
production is that if you want an environmental effect to show up on camera,
the intensity of that effect must be increased in order for it to register on camera.
There seems to be a 1 to 5 ratio from real life to camera. If a director wanted
to see rain on camera, the quantity and size of the drops must be increased 5-fold.
Similarly, if the director wanted to depict strong wind, as Kurosawa did in <i>Yojimbo,
</i>every fan that Toho Studios had, which included fans with a Cessna propeller
engine, two V8Ford Engines, and 5 horsepower engines. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Additionally, the actors instructed to “keep
their eyes as open as possible”, minimizing their ability to blink (Criterion
2006). This led to a very difficult shooting schedule and an obsession to acquire
the perfects shots.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>This desire
for perfection continued into <i>Sanjuro </i>in its creation of both the production
design and special effects. According to Production Designer Yoshiro Muraki:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span></span><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;">Every morning, we’d all gather before
the shooting started to [create and] stick artificial flowers and sakaki leaves
on the camellia branches…You can’t be lackadaisical sticking on the flowers
either, or they just fall off and be crushed underfoot [each flower cost the
same as a pack of cigarettes] <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Moreover, because the script highlighted the importance
of the red color of the camellia flowers, Kurosawa was considering shooting the
flowers in color. Unfortunately, he did not have the technology available to
him at the time, so he required Muraki and his staff to painstakingly paint all
the fake camellia flowers a deep crimson so they would be picked up by the black
and white film. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/cxDwOEeLoUA" width="320" youtube-src-id="cxDwOEeLoUA"></iframe></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The biggest special
effect in <i>Sanjuro </i>happens at the ending duel when Sanjuro’s slash
results in a fount of blood from Hanbei’s chest. In the script, the description
of the duel is sparse, saying “The Duel that follows between the two men can
not be put into words. After a long, agonizing build up, it is decided in a lightning
quick flash of the sword” (Criterion 2006). There was no clear description of the
blood flow’s volume or arc of arterial spray. So, when they set up the shot, Shoji
Jinbo opened the valve on the air compressor sending fake blood shooting
through the hose around Nakadai’s body nearly lifting him off his feet. This
mistake was captured on the first take and managed to be kept in the film
because the actors thought that it was intentional, and they did not want to
ruin the shot. This goof went on to define the Samurai genre of 60’s and 70’s as
some of the bloodiest action of the time. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/YexljwHdr5w" width="320" youtube-src-id="YexljwHdr5w"></iframe></div><br /> <p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><i>The
Ronin and the Cowboy <o:p></o:p></i></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">As </span><a href="https://thesociologistsdojo.blogspot.com/2021/06/the-chambara-films-of-akira-kurosawa.html"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">stated
previously in this series</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">, one of Kurosawa’s primary
influences in his career was John Ford, acclaimed Western film director of such
classics <i>Stagecoach, Rio Grande </i>and <i>The Searchers, </i>(many
including John Wayne). Kurosawa stated that “I pay close attention to [John
Ford] Production and are influenced by them.” (Cardullo, 2008). <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Kurosawa was so influenced by Ford’s shot
composition, the use of wide lenses, and the addition of Pan focus, all of
which gave his films a vastness that was not previously seen in Japanese cinema
at the time; resulting in Kurosawa being admonished as “The most Western
Direrctor.” in Japan. This is despite his previous masterpieces (<i>Ikiru, </i></span><a href="https://thesociologistsdojo.blogspot.com/2021/08/the-chambara-films-of-akira-kurosawa.html"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Seven
Samurai</span></i></a><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">, The Bad Sleep Well, </span></i><a href="https://thesociologistsdojo.blogspot.com/2022/02/the-chambara-films-of-akira-kurosawa.html"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Throne
of Blood</span></i></a><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">, The Lower Depths </span></i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">and
</span><a href="https://thesociologistsdojo.blogspot.com/2022/03/the-chambara-films-of-akira-kurosawa.html"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The
Hidden Fortress</span></i></a><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">)</span></i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"> doing so much to
move Japanese Cinema away from the negative stereotypes of World War II
(Sesonske 2010). Thus, when prepping for <i>Yojimbo, </i>Kurosawa seemed to
lean into these influences rather than hide them, as if he said “I’ll show you
how Western I can be!.” (Sesonske, 2010) With that, Kurosawa solidified the
cinematic marriage of The Ronin and The Cowboy eventually birthing the </span><a href="https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/SamuraiCowboy"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Samurai
Cowboy</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"> trope. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">According to Daniel Choi
(2021) the commonality between the ronin and the cowboy begins with looking at
the similarities in their morality and sense of Honor. </span><a href="http://thesociologistsdojo.blogspot.com/2013/07/the-way.html"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The
Bushido code </span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>and
The Code of the West often overlap in the areas of chivalry, Self-Dependence, the
duel code, and vigilantism. Additionally, when we look at the specific image of
the “Ronin” (Masterless Samurai) there is this flavor of libertarian distrust
of the government and the perception of these warriors were much in the same
flavor of the Cowboys in the Western genre, were former soldiers, whether they
be enlisted, conscripted, or deserted. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Outside of the
motivations of the principal Protagonists, the setting of each genre are vastly
similar. Both the Ronin Chambara films and the classic Western take place during
times of rapid social change and expansion due to conflict. Most Westerns and
Ronin-style Chambara films usually take place between 1860-1870’s’s While in
the US there was westward expansion and the fighting of the Civil War, Japan was
going through its own Civil War (The Boshin War and later the Seinan War) that rejected
imperial Japan opening itself up to the West. The resulting Imperial victory dissolved
the Shogunate and left many Samurai released from the employ of their Daimyo to
become “masterless”. Yet, while both the Ronin and the Cowboy cultivate a
vagabond image, there is a reinforcement of class status and a romanticism of the
Noble poor Trope among them: the Ronin through the class status of the Samurai
Class, and the validation of the independent entrepreneurialism of the Cowboy.
Because of the similarity of these conflicts, the landscape of war is also
parallel. The lack of resources, high unemployment, destruction of crops leading
to dry dusty conditions, and an increase in bandits and roving gangs in need of
“frontier/ Samurai” justice, leads to a resemblance of set and setting between
the Chambara and the Western, culminating in the continuing legacy between these
two genre’s synchronicities, especially for Kurosawa.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center; text-indent: 0.5in;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEie1djM7caLshj9jDS2ANMBC_XdicjCSgJDww7xNc-huyxoc5ZX_YATUb-n5BnN-0MIbTVuqdDibh06LRUcITiNzNw6jh2KmWr8GMKEQiRm9dB2RSlVVJySYu1a5yrbpiRcscXxughfnswbwMKEjRrQrMyl4El8ZwjlqmE5cyqeyvVlOP9iDwFsbxEpiQ/s1280/B9lSVCGIAAM7LCK.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="1280" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEie1djM7caLshj9jDS2ANMBC_XdicjCSgJDww7xNc-huyxoc5ZX_YATUb-n5BnN-0MIbTVuqdDibh06LRUcITiNzNw6jh2KmWr8GMKEQiRm9dB2RSlVVJySYu1a5yrbpiRcscXxughfnswbwMKEjRrQrMyl4El8ZwjlqmE5cyqeyvVlOP9iDwFsbxEpiQ/w400-h225/B9lSVCGIAAM7LCK.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Legacy<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>A lot
of Kurosawa’s work has been retooled, remade, reworked into overcooked
facsimiles of itself. Yet, it is through the duology of <i>Yojimbo </i>and <i>Sanjuro
</i>that he manifests an archetype in his central Character that becomes desirable
to western filmmakers especially the work of the 70’s hot shot directors
Spielberg, Scorsese, Lucas, and Coppola. Through <i>Yojimbo</i>, Kurosawa made
a western better than a lot of previous other directors, at a time when the
western was at its peak. Yet, the result was outright imitation, or in the case
of </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dollars_Trilogy"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“The
Dollars Trilogy”</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"> outright stealing. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“The
Dollars Trilogy” aka </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Man_with_No_Name"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“The Man with No
Name”</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"> movies, are a series of films by Italian director Sergio
Leone starring Clint Eastwood in the titular role, kicking off the “Spaghetti Western”
sub-genre (Westerns made by Italian directors).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The first of these films, “Fist Full of Dollars” is a direct, and in
some cases a shot for shot remake of <i>Yojimbo </i>without giving credit to
Kurosawa, or his team. In 1961, Kurosawa famously sent a letter of intent to
sue to Leone stating “I’ve seen your movie. It is a very good movie.
Unfortunately, it is my movie.”. In the end, the film was delayed 3 years and
Leone paid Kurosawa 15% of the profits<a href="https://d.docs.live.net/bb5a620476910e43/Documents/Sociologists%20Dojo/Yojimbo-Sanjuro%20review%20.docx#_ftn1" name="_ftnref1" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn1;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[1]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There is a bit of Irony here given that the
plot of <i>Yojimbo </i>is also an adaptation of Dashiell Hammett’s two novels <i>Red
Harvest </i>and <i>The Glass Key.<o:p></o:p></i></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span></span></i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Because
of influential cycle of Western to Chambara and back to the Western continues
to impact filmmaking and overall storytelling, this has given rises to the
“Samurai Cowboy” an amagmatic trope that transcends the original genres. Many
long form (films) and Short form (TV) content use this trope, coming in a
variety of flavors in the 60 years since Kurosawa’s original films.Shows and
films like: Cowboy Bebop, Kill Bill, The Warrior’s Way, Trigun, and a variety
of other individual episodes invoke the same “Cowboy/Samurai” spirit.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Most of the examples given romanticize the
Bushido/Code of the West, overrepresenting the perceived positive
characteristics of Honor, Duty, Loyalty, and Respect, while downplaying the
lawlessness that they operate under, and the destabilization that their actions
create. And once that destabilization occurs (usually through the creation of a
“power vacuum”) the protagonist often gets to literally “ride off into the
sunset”; leaving the difficult work of reconstruction to the civilians who have
survived. Also, the positive qualities that have been gleaned from these
cultural codices is one that is used to validate, define, and recreate masculinity.
The perpetuation of the romantic notions of these morality/spirituality
doctrines through its ubiquity in a majority of media content marketed to men, results
in the creation of various “toxic” forms of masculinity that promote violence
to solve problems and rationalized as a legitimate form of protection. Both
Mifune and Eastwood have been revered for their actions in their subsequent
films as the epitome of masculinity to the point that, in the 60 years hence, they
become not only a masculine archetype, but its paragon for generations of boys
and men that watch it. The endless recreation of this trope results a
reproduction of myths, symbols, and metaphors [of masculinity] that are
dangerous (Serttas and Gurkan 2017). Ironically, Kurosawa wanted “to revise the
cinema's attitude towards onscreen violence. He wanted to show the damaging
effect of violence, rather than the slightly anodyne way that it usually had
been depicted before. (He would later come to regret this move, as it spawned a
mass movement in international cinema that hasn't abated even today.)” (</span><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0055630/trivia/?ref_=tt_trv_trv"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">IMDB
trivia</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">). Once again this is another example of the public
taking the exact opposite message from the creator’s intension.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1TFwUJN8G327IPU_0U4zWnIKxgYOvzKGi3fQvTDMi2ZP44ffz1ddEeURt8Q1DLekUOIdZa7O26o4RL5oK7lUTFkgsyjHLXkD4NzKjg6l5bUWQfMl2FIYt_VcvCriT9J5c0nXetwvnDf8NZ_Yi0dyTLCnll7NuvuY4LdCCrFyAjZoeBo0WBrVak3svmw/s728/cbfyBJGxKGbL6Kg5mFBwwlcLjymysR1HXUMXrFVM7Vk.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="582" data-original-width="728" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1TFwUJN8G327IPU_0U4zWnIKxgYOvzKGi3fQvTDMi2ZP44ffz1ddEeURt8Q1DLekUOIdZa7O26o4RL5oK7lUTFkgsyjHLXkD4NzKjg6l5bUWQfMl2FIYt_VcvCriT9J5c0nXetwvnDf8NZ_Yi0dyTLCnll7NuvuY4LdCCrFyAjZoeBo0WBrVak3svmw/w400-h320/cbfyBJGxKGbL6Kg5mFBwwlcLjymysR1HXUMXrFVM7Vk.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">SOCIAL ANALYSIS </span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The Complexities of Social Class <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">Person’s social class status is defined as the social position that a
person possesses within the economy that then impacts other social positions,
they have within the rest of society It is important to remember the
intersectional nature of class dynamics. In that, your social class is
determined by and can be influenced by several different social factors. For
Example: poverty impacts more women than men, and disproportionally more people
of color and people with disabilities. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Additionally,
a higher social class can mitigate the inequality and barriers that one might
feel in other areas but will not eliminate them completely. This is the same
for privileges that people experience in other aspect of their lives. This is
because all lives are a complex web of individual and structural privileges and
barriers. There are aspects where we have a great number of privileges and
other aspects where we experience barriers. The privileges mitigate the effects
of the barriers, and the barriers minimize the privileges that the person
experiences. Thus, it is not just money or wealth that determines and
individuals social class position. Instead, many sociologists, especially those
of us who teach, combine ideas of social class to include a variety of components:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: .5in;"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">Components that impact Social Class Status<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: -9.0pt; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span>1. <b>Wealth</b> (a
combination of your Income (wages) and Assets (property, stocks etc)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: -9.0pt; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span>2. <b>Education</b> (The
kind (Major), type (AA, BA, MA, Ph.D)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: -9.0pt; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">3. <b>Occupational/Educational Prestige</b> (The perceptive value of
an occupation/Education within society)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: -9.0pt; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">4. <b>Cultural Capital-</b> The value of a person’s knowledge skills
and experiences<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: -9.0pt; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">within a society ( AKA “What you know”)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: -9.0pt; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">5. <b>Social Capital-</b> The value of a person’s social relationships
within society (AKA<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: -9.0pt; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">“Who you know.”)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: -9.0pt; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">6. <b>Symbolic Capital-</b> Value of demographics of identity (race,
gender, sexuality disability) The level of acceptability of demographics, keeps
doors open, or shuts them accordingly. The ability for white people to have an
easier time accumulating generational wealth than other People of Color due to
systemic barriers <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: -9.0pt; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">6. <b>The Class Culture-</b> norms and ritualized behaviors localized to
represent a particular class status. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: -9.0pt; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: -9.0pt; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">According to Bourdieu (1987), <b>The Class Culture</b> is something
that is not often considered as important as the other components on this list.
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The idea that each social class level
has its own rules, regulations, rituals, language, norms, and physical objects
that represent them, makes upward social mobility very difficult. Because, even
if you have acquired the basic criteria to be considered a member of the upper
class, you may have difficulty assimilating into the class culture, whether by
required behaviors or by acceptance by peers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The rich are often a specific and segregated subculture. Their access to
resources (or lack thereof) determines their own reality. This reality results
in class segregation by geography, relationships, and daily experiences. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: -9.0pt; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">However, there have been a couple of recent examples of individuals (<a href="https://www.thecut.com/article/how-anna-delvey-tricked-new-york.html">Anna
Delvey/Sorkin</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth_Holmes">Elizabeth
Holmes</a>) whom, without many of the components of social class, were able to acquire
status through mimicking the trappings of wealth in their clothing, mannerisms,
and language which allowed them to acquire social and cultural capital and
giving them access to upward social mobility they desired, thereby validating their
social class performance. Even though these individuals were eventually caught
and charged with various counts of fraud; they were able to exist in these exclusive
spaces due to (at least initially) their adherence to a particular class
cultural script.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The same could be said
for Samurai turned Ronin after the dissolving of the Feudal system. As long as
they “act the part of a Samurai” in their clothing, mannerisms, temperament and
the carrying of swords they could hold on to the level of respectability and
status afforded to them; even though they may be as penniless as the peasants
that they look down upon.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: -9.0pt; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">The complex vagaries of social class status are always at the
forefront of the Samurai in Kurosawa’s films. In addition to Sanjuro in <i>Yojimbo
</i>and <i>Sanjuro</i>, the poverty of Samurai is a plot point in <i><a href="http://thesociologistsdojo.blogspot.com/2021/08/the-chambara-films-of-akira-kurosawa.html?m=0">Seven
Samurai <span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></a></i>and
<i><a href="http://thesociologistsdojo.blogspot.com/2022/03/the-chambara-films-of-akira-kurosawa.html?m=0">The
Hidden Fortress,<span style="font-style: normal;"> </span></a></i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Kurosawa using the desire to help peasants and
townspeople alike as a window into the Samurai’s morality that puts them above
other individuals in their station. For Kurosawa, these are not just members of
a broken caste system who are just trying to, like Holmes and Sorkin, “Fake it
till they make it.”. Instead through these acts of benevolence, they embody the
romanticized “spirit” of the Samurai one that we can both hold and aspire to.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/uHxjUVMVmrw" width="320" youtube-src-id="uHxjUVMVmrw"></iframe></div><br /><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">CONCLUSION</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Like all of Kurosawa’s
work the <i>Yojimbo/Sanjuro </i>duology are masterpieces. They both have
changed cinema and left their legacy stamp on the industry. While these twin
theatrical titans (both making record amounts of money) involve the same
character, it is an anthology rather than a direct sequel and they can be
watched in any order. If you can find it , I recommend watching <i><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0066031/">The Ambush: Incident at Blood Pass</a></i>
while not directed by Kurosawa, does star Toshiro Mifune in a role analogous to
the role in these Kurosawa classics, and with it, can round out a Samurai
version of “The man with No Name” trilogy that could not exist without Kurosawa’s
or Mifune’s brilliance.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">REFERENCES <o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; text-indent: -.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">Bourdieu Pierre 1987. <i>Distinction: A Social
Critique of the Judgement of Taste </i>Massachusetts: Harvard University Press <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; text-indent: -.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Cardullo,
Bert 2008. <i>Akira Kurosawa: interviews. Conversations with Filmmakers</i>.
University Press of Mississippi<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; text-indent: -.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Choi,
Daniel 2021. “Cowboys and Samurai – A Study Of Genre | An In-Depth Analysis” in
<i>The Hollywood Insider</i> retrieved on 4/1/2022 Retrieved at <a href="https://www.hollywoodinsider.com/cowboys-and-samura-genre-analysis/">https://www.hollywoodinsider.com/cowboys-and-samura-genre-analysis/</a>
<i><o:p></o:p></i></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; text-indent: -.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The
Criterion Collection 2006. “ Director of Photography: Kazuo Miyagawa: <i>Yojimbo’s
</i>Pan-Focus” in <i>Yojimbo Interview Booklet </i>Janus Films <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; text-indent: -.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The
Criterion Collection 2006. “Production Designer Yoshiro Muraki: No Regrets for
our Sets” <i>Sanjuro Interview Booklet</i> Janus Films <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; text-indent: -.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Serttas,
Aybike and Hasan Gurkan 2017. “The Representation of Masculinity in Cinema and
on Television: An analysis of Fictional Male Characters” Presented at 12<sup>th</sup>
International Conference on Social Sciences: Amsterdam. Retrieved on 4/1/2022
Retrieved at: <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/328314572_The_Representation_of_Masculinity_in_Cinema_and_on_Television_An_Analysis_of_Fictional_Male_Characters">https://www.researchgate.net/publication/328314572_The_Representation_of_Masculinity_in_Cinema_and_on_Television_An_Analysis_of_Fictional_Male_Characters</a>
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; text-indent: -.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Sesonske,
Alexander 2010. “West Meets East<i>” </i>in <i>Current. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></i>The Criterion Collection Retrieved on
4/1/20222 Retrieved at <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><a href="https://www.criterion.com/current/posts/60-west-meets-east">https://www.criterion.com/current/posts/60-west-meets-east</a>
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoFootnoteText"><a href="https://d.docs.live.net/bb5a620476910e43/Documents/Sociologists%20Dojo/Yojimbo-Sanjuro%20review%20.docx#_ftnref1" name="_ftn1" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn1;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[1]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
The Film was remade again, years later, as a Prohibition era gangster film
titled <i>Last Man Standing</i> starring Bruce Willis. However, the director, Walter
Hill , gave Kurosawa a story credit in the film. <o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
</div><br /><p></p>Brian Brutlaghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08099644007940320266noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8714941782515128558.post-14485255692529523592022-03-05T15:12:00.000-08:002022-03-05T15:12:12.815-08:00The Chambara Films of Akira Kurosawa: The Hidden Fortress <p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiMDHXfnL-nZ0nhyPBwoiMn_Z_-HIKEK67m1QYHH3jghsBdhrlcx_n9Vfq1O3vxzhuVAx4ImukjEHQ8flp7tivoCu5AHwUCukqbdbI3jp0dkv7BByZXwIKwJCzRZcX_kgSthFkue7PDBgYEBknyutRN7O3uYXj34O34MIwc5-rqSylhoGKkQbOtBOJIGg=s650" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="650" data-original-width="460" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiMDHXfnL-nZ0nhyPBwoiMn_Z_-HIKEK67m1QYHH3jghsBdhrlcx_n9Vfq1O3vxzhuVAx4ImukjEHQ8flp7tivoCu5AHwUCukqbdbI3jp0dkv7BByZXwIKwJCzRZcX_kgSthFkue7PDBgYEBknyutRN7O3uYXj34O34MIwc5-rqSylhoGKkQbOtBOJIGg=w283-h400" width="283" /></a></div><br /><p style="text-align: center;"><br /></p><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The fourth film in my
continued analysis of the Chambara Films of Akira Kurosawa is the inspirational
adventure <i>The Hidden Fortress</i>. A “road movie” with Samurai flair, this
1958 classic was Kurosawa’s first big hit since 1954’s </span><a href="http://thesociologistsdojo.blogspot.com/2021/08/the-chambara-films-of-akira-kurosawa.html"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Seven
Samurai. <i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></i></span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A film that is often overshadowed by other
Kurosawa hits that seem to have stuck longer in the memory of the public, <i>The
Hidden Fortress </i>is still the catalyst for one of the biggest pop cultural
properties in US history. This analysis will cover the historical context and
rich social analysis of this wonderful film, including being unfortunately
eclipsed by an (inter)stellar film that is a “far, far” <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>less compelling watered-down popcorn drivel,
than the Kurosawa masterpiece.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/R-UCPiWJizg" width="320" youtube-src-id="R-UCPiWJizg"></iframe></div><br /><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">PLOT<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Two greedy peasants,
living in a region in Japan between two warring factions, stumble upon the secret
base of one of the faction’s leaders (Misa Uehara) and her general (Toshiro
Mifune) after being mistakenly imprisoned as her soldiers. Together, the
unlikely quartet travel incognito behind enemy lines, caring gold, in hopes to
reach the safety of the peasants’ homeland without being detected by the enemy.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">HISTORICAL CONTEXT<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span></span></b><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Production
<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><i>The
Hidden Fortress </i>was one of the first films shot in Tohoscope. With
Kurosawa’s use of long lenses, this became an important stylistic achievement
for the director creating, shots and sequences that, yet again, have never been
seen on screen. In fact, this style became so iconic that they eventually were
assimilated as an industry standard. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">On <i>The Hidden Fortress,
</i>in addition to using the wider Tohoscope, Kurosawa developed a technique to
keep focus on an object in motion while using a wide shot. During the shot when
General Rokurota Makabe (Mifune) is riding his horse into the enemy’s camp,
Kurosawa used two telephoto lenses and pulled the shot back with dollies. Additionally,
he tunneled the viewfinder of a camera using cloth and placed it on one of the
operator’s heads to black out the light. The result was as shot like no other
in cinema at the time. However, this shot goes by so quickly few people outside
of film school students rarely notice. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjprBGV6jt2WhTSN31hCn1J1NJtVjMlcxvatU3bb-2tKbj7usVvZycEaqDU_-PvKWyUv_j-r9tfUIXltnMk2TWx8Ryw5aLinQFJbW7VZSx2cGsi7Kh1BdWxfvQP3PO_67KXAZRL011Q15odQZvn_zRr2V7ilEx9eAoZw2MHI9WO8WcZayBiFymSRcVWhw=s1200" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="800" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjprBGV6jt2WhTSN31hCn1J1NJtVjMlcxvatU3bb-2tKbj7usVvZycEaqDU_-PvKWyUv_j-r9tfUIXltnMk2TWx8Ryw5aLinQFJbW7VZSx2cGsi7Kh1BdWxfvQP3PO_67KXAZRL011Q15odQZvn_zRr2V7ilEx9eAoZw2MHI9WO8WcZayBiFymSRcVWhw=w266-h400" width="266" /></a></div><br /> <o:p></o:p><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span></span></b><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Legacy
<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">With previous films like </span><a href="http://thesociologistsdojo.blogspot.com/2021/07/the-chambara-films-of-akira-kurosawa.html"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Rashomon</span></i></a><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"> </span></i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">(1950),
<i>Ikiru </i>(1952) and </span><a href="http://thesociologistsdojo.blogspot.com/2022/02/the-chambara-films-of-akira-kurosawa.html"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Thone
of Blood</span></i></a><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"> </span></i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">(1957), Kurosawa was
beginning to be known as an “art housed director”, and upon looking at the
shift away from the enthusiastic nation building of <i>Seven Samurai </i>(1954),
many of the critics looked upon <i>The Hidden Fortress </i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>as simple “frivolous entertainment” (Russell 2014).
A New York Times review by Bosley Crowther in 1962 called the film “superficial”
and that it “was stooping to Hollywoodism”. The unfortunate tragic irony of the
eventual success and recognition of this film as a masterpiece, is only after its
blatant theft by George Lucas whom rather than give full creator credit to
Kurosawa for <i>Star Wars, </i>just cited the film as an influence; even though
it shares basic plot points, shots scenes and characters with <i>The Hidden
Fortress. </i>They are basically the same film. But before I get to that, first,
some groundwork.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; text-indent: .5in;"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Everything
is like Everything else <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">We like to repeat stories….
a lot. In 1895, Christina Stead and George Pierce Baker authors of <i>Dramatic
Technique </i>outlined that all of storytelling only has around 36 dramatic
situations. Psychologist Christopher Booker (2004) synthesizes this even further
down to 7 basic and repeating plots:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="margin-left: .75in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l2 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">1.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Overcoming
the Monster <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: .75in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l2 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">2.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Rags
to Riches <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: .75in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l2 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">3.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The
Quest <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: .75in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l2 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">4.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Voyage
and Return <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: .75in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l2 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">5.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Comedy
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: .75in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l2 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">6.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Tragedy
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="margin-left: .75in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l2 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">7.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Rebirth<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">All stories, in all
cultures, are derivative and influenced by what has come before it. Stories
involving humans tend to repeat, as we constantly try to work through the same
stuff (of being human) from one generation to the next. In fact, </span><a href="https://directory.libsyn.com/episode/index/show/thesociologistsdojo/id/22184621"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">even
stories <b>not involving </b>humans</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"> are still repeating the
same story beats. Thus, we cannot get around similar storytelling structures. Yet,
as we have repackaged these stories ad nauseum, seeping into every single genre
and subgenre, we often do not publicly recognize the influences (direct or
indirect) in film and TV credits. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Part
of the reason for this repetition is our Capitalist drive to maintain and open
new markets/ “revenue streams”. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is done
through an endless churning over of products that are repackaged riffs on
something that we already have, leaving us with little distinct and unique
content. George Ritzer and Michael Ryan (2003) discusses that all products
inhabit a place a long the scale of “Nothing” vs “Something”. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><b>Something:</b></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;"> is a social form that is generally
indigenously conceived and locally controlled that is <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><u>rich in distinct and Substantive content</u></b> This is something
that is individually driven and not corporately controlled. Whereas <b>Nothing</b>
is a particular social form of globalization that is generally centrally
received and controlled by the overarching systems and <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><u>devoid of any distinct nor Substantive content. </u></b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></i>With nothing, there is no independent
conceptualization- there is only control. Thus, the value of the product
decreases both in terms of price and of the product’s <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">worth to the consumer. </b><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">As consumers
in a capitalist system, we are conditioned into thinking that </span>price
dictates individual personal value (the more expensive = the more valuable), and
we often have less social and emotional investment in something when it is a
dime a dozen, or just easily replaceable. This is of course reversed if,
through nostalgic marketing, there is a manufacturing of desire for that
product because it connects to an emotionally resonant time for the consumer
(usually childhood) or invokes a past/current relationship. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: .25in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">According to Ritzer and Ryan (2003) rather
than something, that is complex and unique, the mass public would rather have
large varieties of “Nothing.” This is because it gives the illusion of quality and
content, (the illusion that it is in fact ‘something’ when it is <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">not)</b> while making it easier for
producers to create something for the broadest and simplistic tastes. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<ul style="margin-top: 0in;" type="disc">
<li class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo2; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">The
General public has a greater demand for ‘nothing’ rather than ‘something’
in part because ‘Nothing’ tends cheaper through Mass Production<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo2; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">‘Something’
is harder to reproduce (for one it takes more time) because it is complex
and distinct<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo2; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">‘Nothing’
being devoid of distinct content is often more desired because it does not
take a stance. It is not trying to say anything with its content. It is
often not political and sold to the broadest audience possible <o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo2; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">Because
of its lack of appeal (in terms of interest and personal satisfaction) More
advertising dollars are put into the selling of ‘Nothing’ because
advertisers must “Manufacture desire” for that thing in the minds of
consumers. ‘Something’ usually has a built-in audience a nesh group that
already desires the product…making it less marketable.<o:p></o:p></span></li>
</ul>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">Therefore, rather than something interesting
and distinct, a lot of our popular culture are unnecessary reconfigurations of
human struggles, overtilled for the purposes of profit. We eventual turn the
nuanced and novel into tropes. Granted, this happens because these universal
human stories are reproduced to better resonate with every subsequent
generation, and regardless of the quality of the storytelling, some stories,
made at a certain place in the socio-cultural context, do not invigorate the current
generation because they either cannot engage with the story on the surface, or
the filmmaking style does not capture their attention, regardless of thematic resonance.
Yet, this does not stop the industry from trying to construct a loyal customer
base. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Brand Loyalty</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"> is
a marketing term explaining the desire for companies to increase the positive
feelings consumers have for a brand and will continue to purchase the product(s)
regardless of the products flaws. Often, filmmaking auteurs, and even studios
develop a particular style that becomes sought after by film geeks, critics,
and the public. Production Companies like A24, and Neon, to writer/directors
like Robert Eggers, Karyn Kusama, Ari Aster, Lynne Ramsey, Jennifer Kent, their
name(s) becomes synonymous with quality. However, this is nothing new, and is a
part of the assimilationist nature of the industry, 45 years ago, the young genius
auteurs went by the names Spielberg, Coppola, Scorsese, and Lucas who “revolutionized
filmmaking” and became deified for their efforts by film school bros since. It
should be said that this assimilation into the industry, like Immigration, is a
lot easier if you are white and male, and the ability to become a part of the
system, in the way that these 70’s auteurs began, resulting in becoming the
system through the running of their own companies/studios. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">In the way that
directors, producers, and companies recently have brought superheroes and comic
book characters from the fringes into the dominant monoculture of today, Lucas,
Coppola, Spielberg, and Scorsese idolized Akira Kurosawa; making sure his films
got a wider international audience (with reparatory screenings of his earlier
work) and helped the aging director develop his last films. Coppola and Lucas
helped produce <i>Kagemusha </i>(which led to <i>Ran), </i>while Spielberg and Scorsese
helped to produce and direct segments in <i>Dreams. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></i>It is a hard reality to accept that, in
the United States, Kurosawa wouldn’t be as known and beloved as he is without
the efforts of the 70’s auteurs that idolized him.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Perhaps, because I too love Kurosawa’s work,
I am just a bit salty that his influence is not as recognized as I think it
should be in the general culture, especially around <i>Star Wars.<o:p></o:p></i></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><i><br /></i></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/TEJ6CzG9zVc" width="320" youtube-src-id="TEJ6CzG9zVc"></iframe></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Star Wars and Kurosawa </span></i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>As
mentioned above, and by Lucas’s own admission, there is a lot of Kurosawa’s
work and influence in<i> </i>The <i>Star Wars </i>franchise. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The <a href="https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20160104-the-film-star-wars-stole-from">basic
plot elements</a> of <i>A New Hope </i>and <i>Phantom Menace</i> are directly
lifted from <i>The Hidden Fortress</i>:</span></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">1.<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Story
following the lowliest Characters (Peasants/ Droids) <o:p></o:p></span></p><p></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">2.<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">A
frenetic duel between old Masters <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">3.<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Imperial
and Samurai crests in <i>Hidden Fortress </i> are the Same <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">4.<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">A
self-assured Princess of a annihilated clan must sneak past enemy lines to seek
refuge in a neighboring Fiefdom/ Star System <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">5.<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Disguising
the Princess as a Handmaid <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">6.<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The
existence and destruction of a hidden rebel base <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">7.<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">A
wide ceremonial shot at the end of the film.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Additionally, <a href="https://www.slashfilm.com/567916/star-wars-and-the-hidden-fortress/">the
general aesthetic</a> of Star Wars owes everything to Kurosawa:<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l1 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">1.<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Japanese
period pieces are known as Jidaigeki often involving Samurai (Jedi)<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l1 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">2.<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">A
lot of the wipe transitions in <i>Star Wars </i>came right out of <i>Hidden
Fortress </i><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l1 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">3.<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Toshiro
Mifune was offered the role of Obi-Wan Kenobi <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l1 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">4.<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Episodes
of <i>The Mandalorian </i>and <i>The Clone Wars </i>rework the plot of <i>Seven
Samurai </i><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l1 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">5.<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">A
good majority of <i><a href="https://www.slashfilm.com/628979/star-wars-visions-owes-much-to-akira-kurosawa/">Star
Wars: Visions<span style="font-style: normal;"> has a Kurosawa aesthetic</span></a></i>
<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l1 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">6.<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Clone
Wars episode “Lightsaber Lost” is an adaptation of <i>Stray Dog</i><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l1 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">7.<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"> The Jedi after Order 66 become Ronin (<i>Yojimbo/Sanjiro)
</i><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">
</span></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="mso-list: l1 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">8.<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The
use of the Western Gunslinger aesthetic (itself fueled by Samurai) in <i>Star
Wars </i>is doubling down<o:p></o:p></span></p><p>
</p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">As I stated in the previous section, this is a part of
the cycle of storytelling and is not necessarily the problem. What I take umbrage
with is that so many fans of <i>Star Wars </i>do not actively know or praise
its roots. To me, if you are a fan of <i>Star Wars</i>, on any level, you must
also be a fan of Kurosawa, or at the very least, acknowledge his influence.
Yet, so many fans of <i>Star Wars</i> speak about their love of it without also
mentioning or even knowing Kurosawa. A person who can love <i>Star Wars </i>and
not know who Akira Kurosawa is, should not exist. Meaning, if you love <i>Star
Wars </i>get to know, and at least appreciate Kurosawa’s work; because without
it, <i>Star Wars </i>would just be a Campbell-esque “Heroes Journey” of another
two-dimensional boring white dude.<a href="https://d.docs.live.net/bb5a620476910e43/Documents/Sociologists%20Dojo/The%20Hidden%20Fortress%20Review%20.docx#_ftn1" name="_ftnref1" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn1;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[1]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a> <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><br /></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/QD1mb1UB-OM" width="320" youtube-src-id="QD1mb1UB-OM"></iframe></div><br /><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><br /></span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">SOCIAL ANALYSIS <o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>A lot of the social analysis that is
encompassed in <i>The Hidden Fortress</i> is not in the forefront of Kurosawa’s
storytelling. He instead strings together minimal statements of class and
gender politics that are rarely given either its due or meaningful analysis; instead
opting for is characters’ personality to reflect the social stereotypes that
exist.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Class
Dynamics <o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span></span></i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The
economy of war is stratification. As private companies are glad handed billions
of dollars by the Department of Defense, making their CEO’s Billionaires in
their own right, a key strategy during times of aggression, to end conflict is
the use of economic sanctions against an opponent. Economic sanctions can range
from trade tariffs on goods to a complete embargo. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The idea behind the use
of economic sanctions is typically twofold: the restrictions will either
motivate the leaders of a country to halt aggressive actions and violence to
maintain the health and safety of their own people, which the sanctions put in jeopardy;
or motivate the people to rise up and overthrow their government because the
economic conditions have unraveled.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Yet,
the main reason to use economic sanctions, a common tactic of the US liberal
left to convince themselves they are not Warhawks, and therefore morally superior
to the uber violent “run and gun” position taken by many of those on the right,
is also a major criticism of the practice. The economic punishment of an entire
country for the actions of the elected officials is both misplaced passive aggressions,
and a violation of their Human Rights (Pape 1997). <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The notion that <a href="https://www.vox.com/22956536/what-sanctions-do-russia-economy-ukraine-oil">economic
sanctions that strip away human livelihood</a>, rights and the ability to survive
as being less aggressive than the use of munitions is a farce. The end result
is the same; the difference is that economic sanctions are a more indirect and
emotionless action that is perceived as more humanitarian because we only
define and think about violence in a militaristic way. Economic Sanctions while
still a form of Hard power of an authority to express domination, also has
symbolic elements, in the Bordieuan sense, because of its use of non-physical
violence to establish power differences between groups (Bourdieu 1998). Thus, in
the US, we use economic sanctions which have potentially a longer lasting impact
than direct violence, to act as a motivator for those effected by it (often under
dictatorial rule) to institute a political coup (which usually begets physical
violence) while presenting ourselves as benevolent. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Additionally, the sustained
use of economic sanctions increases the flow of refugees from the impacted
country. As many flee the oppression and potential violence by their own country’s
authorities, there are those that also flee because of the economic depression
brought on by the extended economic restrictions. Yet, because of xenophobia and
a threat of terrorism many countries have had a long <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2017/1/27/14412082/refugees-history-holocaust">history
of immigration restrictions</a> from countries under conflict, even when it is
their economic and social pressure that manifested the refugee crisis to begin with.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">In <i>The Hidden Fortress,
</i>the two Peasant characters are from a region between two warring Daimyos,
which has resulted in their overall economic position.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Unfortunately, rather than point to the
social and political root of their problem, depicting the peasants as refugees of
the crisis, Kurosawa instead individualizes the issue, depicting the peasants as
conniving cowards, that will do anything in the name of wealth. While the peasant’s
arc in the story eventually quells this greed, it does not go far enough to
show the overall macro level problems of which their greed is a symptom.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi8sSmHugJoQ3SEmqI8XO3_vnWvIIIPF66uFieq1ETqAYguZ8pz6oIuVswhQqm76k7ospVPL-pKOMwxOaKN4V-LmWjMpV1-CtTbk8hv14Q1w8Sdi-o0a7uDSHZWu77Xc24E05lQQFecYCY7DpogV6E4lnqbCrBPqO5cXKibmb8cKLrH5AGDtjjnZboELA=s667" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="375" data-original-width="667" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi8sSmHugJoQ3SEmqI8XO3_vnWvIIIPF66uFieq1ETqAYguZ8pz6oIuVswhQqm76k7ospVPL-pKOMwxOaKN4V-LmWjMpV1-CtTbk8hv14Q1w8Sdi-o0a7uDSHZWu77Xc24E05lQQFecYCY7DpogV6E4lnqbCrBPqO5cXKibmb8cKLrH5AGDtjjnZboELA=w400-h225" width="400" /></a></div><br /><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">CONCLUSION<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Kurosawa’s <i>The Hidden
Fortress </i>is a masterpiece with a long reaching influence that has been
invisibly woven into Pop Culture through its homage in the films of the 1970’s.
Regardless of recognition by current consumers or not, Kurosawa’s work (specially
this film) has left an indelible impact on many of the things people love today.
Yet, even though this film is absent a lot of direct social commentary, the questions
about the collateral damage against civilians, and the value of economic
sanctions <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2022_Russian_invasion_of_Ukraine">are quite
prescient for our current context</a>. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">REFERENCES <o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Booker, Christopher 2004. <i>The Seven Basic Plots:
Why We Tell Stories. </i>New York: Continuum<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Bourdieu, Pierre 1998. Masculine Domination. Stanford:
Standford University Press<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Pape, Robert A. 1997. “Why Economic Sanctions Do Not
Work.” In <i>International Security </i>Vol 22 Num 2 pp 90-136<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; text-indent: -.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Ritzer,
George and Michael Ryan 2003. “The Globalization of Nothing.” In <i>Social
Thought and Research</i>, Vol. 25, No. 1/2, pp. 51-81<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; text-indent: -.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Russell, Catherine 2014. “Three Good Men and a
Princess.” In <i>The Current </i>New York: The Criterion Collection. Retrieved
on March 5, 2022. Retrieved at <a href="https://www.criterion.com/current/posts/3101-the-hidden-fortress-three-good-men-and-a-princess">https://www.criterion.com/current/posts/3101-the-hidden-fortress-three-good-men-and-a-princess</a>
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<div style="mso-element: footnote-list;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><br clear="all" />
<hr align="left" size="1" width="33%" />
<!--[endif]-->
<div id="ftn1" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<p class="MsoFootnoteText"><a href="https://d.docs.live.net/bb5a620476910e43/Documents/Sociologists%20Dojo/The%20Hidden%20Fortress%20Review%20.docx#_ftnref1" name="_ftn1" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn1;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[1]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a> Fuck
Luke Skywalker! In the original trilogy he is just a cypher for the white male
audience, to make them feel like they too can be the hero and save the Galaxy.
He is a paper-thin character, a shallow shrill, that through <i>legends </i>became
a white dude power fantasy of an unstoppable badass that fanboys could emulate
and drool over. The only compelling depiction of Luke Skywalker is in <i>The
Last Jedi </i>showing the dangers and ramifications of this earlier depiction
and a nuanced understanding of balance. Yet, these fucking white male fanboys
could not take a alteration and progression of a character away from the image
of the heroic badass they have in their heads (that is likely a member of their
Reference group) thus they rejected <i>The Last Jedi</i> and demanded that Luke’s
legacy be corrected. They were then kowtowed to by Dave Feloni and Jon Favereau
to make their (wet) dreams come true. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
</div><br /><p></p>Brian Brutlaghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08099644007940320266noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8714941782515128558.post-21877636493935885692022-02-06T12:14:00.000-08:002022-02-06T12:14:06.178-08:00The Chambara Films of Akira Kurosawa: Throne of Blood<p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhy_b97Rw8N1f1BZVrRaaL6_dW73V1D5EDy-4-JFkqnkUvfmPlYNASLN-NunTcYq7HbkV9aQCiZ7Ikfg1AZHG3R44Tog97RY6FJzzh9x59flsvojEjzwW9XvcCd-vB4twxuBwsW807X4JzePLDK_PKKtDzx_n8S6gbmp42Uyb3kI3g_Q-yswcPxN_TkkA=s1426" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1426" data-original-width="1000" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhy_b97Rw8N1f1BZVrRaaL6_dW73V1D5EDy-4-JFkqnkUvfmPlYNASLN-NunTcYq7HbkV9aQCiZ7Ikfg1AZHG3R44Tog97RY6FJzzh9x59flsvojEjzwW9XvcCd-vB4twxuBwsW807X4JzePLDK_PKKtDzx_n8S6gbmp42Uyb3kI3g_Q-yswcPxN_TkkA=w280-h400" width="280" /></a></div><p style="text-align: center;"><br /></p><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The third film in my
analysis of the chambara films of Akira Kurosawa, is the “positively
Shakespearean <i>Throne of Blood. </i>An adaptation of Shakespeare’s tragedy, <i>Macbeth,
</i>about hubristic intentions, ambitions for power, and madness, <i>Throne of
Blood </i>contextualizes these ideas through the prism of late 15<sup>th</sup>
century Japan. Kurosawa masterfully weaves a jidaigeki (period film) with Noh
theater creating an amalgamated Masterpiece of adaptation, isolating the themes
of power, fragile masculinity and the patriarchal bargain, as well as the
dangers of selfish individualism in a collectivist culture. Kurosawa takes <i>Throne
of Blood</i> beyond just a derivate, to give an experience that is wholly
unique.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center; text-indent: 0.5in;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/vI60AQTGKSU" width="320" youtube-src-id="vI60AQTGKSU"></iframe></div><br /><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span><p></p><p></p><p>
</p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">PLOT<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">After a successful victory
over their Daimyo’s enemies, Generals Washizu (Toshiro Mifune) and Miki (Minoru
Chiaki) find themselves lost as they travel to “Spider’s Web Castle”. Upon the road,
they happen upon a Spirit who tells them their fate. Washizu will be the next Daimyo
and Miki’s children will be the first in a long line of feudal era Lords.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Each takes no stock in this ethereal
prognostication until the Daimyo satisfies the first of the phantom’s predictions.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This confirmation plants seeds of ambition
and desire that ultimately leads to a bloody violent conclusion and
confirmation of the specter’s foreshadowing.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjhOvjDYjIlTGEOByDNPGEVi1TVL5YPcdkbvObNhRVH-Lw6VymSxbvIK1A3x1S2ZIyqjJxOjFxkes9yAvbBuO9H9JVRGUki6U9lJ7tKdGJOlxV9E3ZZnNwAo4j0-Z2H7nmUQEFvNnJoJxA6Jq00cM3ZcQ_EOrqHJO2SRvzRgU69SMAYNSB4lPIgaq1bZQ=s800" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjhOvjDYjIlTGEOByDNPGEVi1TVL5YPcdkbvObNhRVH-Lw6VymSxbvIK1A3x1S2ZIyqjJxOjFxkes9yAvbBuO9H9JVRGUki6U9lJ7tKdGJOlxV9E3ZZnNwAo4j0-Z2H7nmUQEFvNnJoJxA6Jq00cM3ZcQ_EOrqHJO2SRvzRgU69SMAYNSB4lPIgaq1bZQ=w400-h300" width="400" /></a></div><br /> <p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">HISTORICAL CONTEXT<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>As
stated previously in </span><a href="http://thesociologistsdojo.blogspot.com/search/label/The%20Chambara%20Films%20of%20Akira%20Kurosawa"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">other
essays in this series</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">, Kurosawa is infamous for his western
influences. For his literary influences, while Shakespeare takes a close second
to Dostoevsky, <i>Macbeth </i>is the first of of three Shakespeare plays
Kurosawa adapted (</span><a href="https://www.criterion.com/current/posts/1828-the-bad-sleep-well-shakespeare-s-ghost"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The
Bad sleep Well/Hamlet</span></i></a><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">, </span></i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">and
</span><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/film/2016/mar/28/akira-kurosawa-king-lear-story-ran-4k-restoration"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Ran/King
Lear</span></i></a><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">). Throne of Blood </span></i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">is
not a typical shot for shot remake of the classic play. Instead, Kurosawa also
pulls from Noh, a classical form of dance-drama theater cultivated in period Kurosawa
wanted to depict, the 1400’s, to fuse theater and cinema (Prince 2014).
Blending dance, song, poetry and mime with bare sets, and stylized performances
which provided paradoxically powerful movements of its principal cast, the
inclusion of Noh allowed the film to develop a coldness that is often absent of
previous (and future) adaptations (Prince 2014). <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Kurosawa’s
“Macbeth” is an amalgamation of western and eastern influences, giving us a
different cultural way of seeing this classic story.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Due to its Nohist inspirations: the emptiness
of space, and the inky black, white and grey pallet of how it is shot, gives
the film a unique calligraphical quality that hasn’t been repeated (</span><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt10095582/?ref_=tttr_tr_tt"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">until
recently</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">). By tying in Buddhist principles to a very western
structure, Kurosawa produces the same story of betrayal, power, and violence without
the source materials reassuring conclusion (Prince 2014). Rather, in Kurosawa’s
tale, the cycle of human violence never ends.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Production<o:p></o:p></i></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Kurosawa’s original
desire to adapt <i>Macbeth</i> first came to him after the release of </span><a href="http://thesociologistsdojo.blogspot.com/2021/07/the-chambara-films-of-akira-kurosawa.html"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Rashomon</span></i></a><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">.
</span></i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">However,
after learning about Orson Wells’ adaptation released in 1948, he decided to
move on to </span><a href="http://thesociologistsdojo.blogspot.com/2021/08/the-chambara-films-of-akira-kurosawa.html"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Seven
Samurai</span></i></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"> and later <i>Ikiru. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></i>He eventually circled back to <i>Throne of
Blood </i>when he believed enough time had passed from Wells’ film. Kurosawa
was not originally slated to direct <i>Throne of Blood</i>, but when the budget
ballooned in pre-production, the only way that Toho believed they could recoup
the costs and eventually make a profit, is if the film was directed by Kurosawa.
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Shot on sound stages and
two specific locations, Kurosawa constructed the exterior of the castle on Mt
Fuji for its black volcanic soil, which would add to the stark color pallet he was
trying to construct. This decision proved difficult, as they then had to bring
in truck loads of Fuji volcanic soil to the Toho soundstage (where the scenes
in the interior of the Castle were being shot) so that it would match the
exterior shots. This back and forth up and down the mountain proved both
economically and emotionally taxing for Kurosawa and his crew, eventually
seeking aid from an entire battalion (typically 300-1000 soldiers) of US Marines
for transportation and the building of sets. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Yet, the most interesting
and radical aspect of production came narratively during the films climax. When
Washizu attempts in vain to rally his soldiers to go out and fight the coming
onslaught from <a name="_Hlk94960700">Noriyasu</a>’s forces, rather than listen
and follow the orders of their commander, the army, previously established as
having a penchant for overwhelming their enemies with a hail of arrows, begin
to loose them upon their Lord. This sequence was shot with real arrows while
star Toshiro Mifune was in frame. Instead of achieving this through special
effects, trained archers were used; creatin a choreography between them and
Mifune, involving Mifune waving his hands during the sequence to indicate the direction
he was moving to the archers off screen.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Every arrow hit was real, (except for the shot through the neck) taken
by Mifune who wore wooden blocks of protection under his costume. Some of the
closer arrow shots were hollowed out and launched on wires for added safety. This
process resulted in Mifune showing real fear during the sequence which added to
the gravity of the climax and the overall legacy of the film. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/3GvVzvoEx4w" width="320" youtube-src-id="3GvVzvoEx4w"></iframe></div><br /><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">SOCIAL ANALYSIS <o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span></span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">A
lot has been written and analyzed about <i>Macbeth </i>and its many adaptations.
The themes of greed, hubris, and ascending the ladders of power have been tilled
over for centuries.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Yet, the elements
that Kurosawa uses to demonize individualism through his changes to
Shakespeare’s original story, the mechanisms of power, and the expressions of
fragile masculinity and the patriarchal bargain, are Sociologically interesting
and valuable to explore.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Individualism
vs. Collectivism<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>What makes Kurosawa’s adaptation of <i>Macbeth
</i></span><a href="http://www.tasteofcinema.com/2016/10-reasons-why-throne-of-blood-is-the-best-macbeth-transposition/"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">interesting
and popular</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">, regardless of the narrative changes and
liberties, is the criticism of individualism in favor of a collectivist mindset.
Individualism, prominent in Western cultures, support egocentric ambition and
grasps at money and power. Your ability to succeed is not based in any sort of
loyalty to a collective or other group, but in your own cunning, ingenuity, and
uniqueness. Thus, focusing on the rights of the individual as opposed to the
group. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Collectivism, common in Eastern cultures,
sees value in the social group and group formation as valuable and important to
the overall function of society.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The changes
made by Kurosawa to <i>Macbeth </i>in <i>Throne of Blood,</i> highlights this
difference and places individualism, not the theatrical tragic flaw of hubris (commonly
the downfall of Sir and Lady Macbeth in the play), as the catalyst for the
demise of its central characters.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The replacement
of the thematic catalyst of hubris for Individualism in <i>Throne of Blood</i>
happens through minimal narrative changes. Firstly, Asaji becomes pregnant (unlike
Lady Macbeth) which motivates Washizu to furthering the plans to kill Miki.
This then allows for greater context for Asaji’s mental breakdown motivated by
the birth of a stillborn child, rather than just guilt and paranoia. Once
Washizu becomes Daimyo at the beginning of the film, he clearly states that he
has no intention of any further malevolent machinations. He is resigned and
almost happy to both have his position, and then give that position up to
Miki’s heir. Yet, it is the temptation of his own dynasty that motivates his
later actions in the film. Secondly, the death of Washizu is not from single
combat with Noriyasu (the Macduff proxy) as it is in the play. In its place,
Washizu dies by being felled by arrows from his own troops. In that last
action, Kurosawa highlights Washizu’s individualistic ambitions to retain power
as madness; one that needs to be eliminated by the collective action of his
people. This anti-individualism is reinforced by the chorus at the end of the
film, indicating to the audience that Washizu’s soul never made it to the
afterlife. His soul remained on earth in eternal purgatory, and thus is
presented as a cautionary tale of western individualism.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i>Fragile
Masculinity and The Patriarchal Bargain<o:p></o:p></i></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>One
of the powerful mechanisms of socialization (social learning) in any society is
gender socialization. The process by which individuals learn what it means, and
how to perform the gender identities that are considered acceptable within their
society. These messages are then reinforced by various social institutions for
the purposes of governance and social control. Typically, in western
Patriarchal (male centered) societies: the values, ideals, and behaviors
associated with masculinity and maleness are exalted, encouraged, and
normalized; made both invisible and hegemonic.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Yet, because masculinity is valued and expected (especially among men), this
minimizes the way that identified boys and men can express themselves. Because
these masculine standards are so rigid, they can only perform (a narrow form of)
masculinity without sanction. Thus, any social situation identified boys and
men find themselves in (especially cis gendered men) they may be called upon to
validate their masculinity. This also means that every social situation, is
another chance their masculine performance will be interrogated and revoked.
The revocation and reinstatement of individuals’ masculinity is a cycle of cis gendered
social control that makes masculinity itself fragile. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>According to Bourdieu (1998) “the social order
functions as an intense symbolic machine tending to ratify the masculine
domination on which it was founded.”(p 9).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Thus, men need to be men, or they are sanctioned until they reclaim
their masculinity in ways that reinforce the narrowly defined and dangerous
forms of masculinity accepted by the Patriarchy (usually using sex or violence
to achieve it). It is not just cishet men that police other men in this system.
Cis gendered women are also socialized to critique men’s performance of masculinity;
the result of which is immediate emasculation. It is this masculine sanctioning
that Asaji uses against Washizu in <i>Throne of Blood</i> when she questions
his resolve to their agreed upon actions (and therefore his masculinity).
Mifune’s long vacant stares indicate the depth of her evisceration of his fragile
masculinity with such a simple look. Washizu is then pressured to salvage his
masculinity through the added violence against Miki and his sons.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Women, socialized into a
misogynistic and patriarchal culture are given value in their bodies, and in
their relationships (especially with cishet men). Thus, cishet women are often
taught to find value in themselves in this system through their relationships
with other people, rather than believing they have value outright. Not only
does this reinforce the norm of women performing a lot of emotional labor for all
their male relationships (sons, husbands, fathers etc.); this also encourages
the patriarchal bargain. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The patriarchal
bargain is the different strategies employed by women in a patriarchal system
to maximize security and optimize life options with varying potential for
active or passive resistance in the face of oppression (Kandiyoti 1988). <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Given that <i>Throne of Blood </i>is set in
the 1400’s, in a masculine emphasized caste system, the patriarchal bargain is
presented as one of the only legitimate avenues for women to gain status and
power. Asaji motivates and berates her husband into violence to seize power for
herself through him. Her ruthlessness (overtly gendered male in Feudal Japan)
is hidden behind a façade of diminutive femininity, manipulating her husband
through social and symbolic castration to be able to access the power that is
denied her through a gendered social system.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Power and its lure </span></i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The Weberian definition
of power is the ability to realize your will even when others resist (Weber 1978).
This presupposes that a person has already acquired said power (in whatever
material or symbolic form it takes). To acquire power, you need to understand
where power resides, and while there are many forms of power that exist, the masculine
misogynistic domination of the patriarchal rule that resides in the institutional
system seems to take precedence in <i>Throne of Blood.</i> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Power is usually
generated by </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">those who are in
positions of high authority in powerful social institutions (usually men) who set
the value of the different forms of capital (Financial, cultural, and Symbolic)<a href="https://d.docs.live.net/bb5a620476910e43/Documents/Sociologists%20Dojo/Throne%20of%20Blood%20Review%20.docx#_ftn1" name="_ftnref1" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn1;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[1]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>,
and as such, have an undue advantage in the struggles for power within a
particular field<a href="https://d.docs.live.net/bb5a620476910e43/Documents/Sociologists%20Dojo/Throne%20of%20Blood%20Review%20.docx#_ftn2" name="_ftnref2" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn2;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[2]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The habitus (habitual behaviors/norms) that
is affected by those types of capital is a form of bio power<a href="https://d.docs.live.net/bb5a620476910e43/Documents/Sociologists%20Dojo/Throne%20of%20Blood%20Review%20.docx#_ftn3" name="_ftnref3" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn3;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[3]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
that “The Power Elite” (again usually men) has over the rest of the structure,
especially those within the “mass society” (the everyday public outside positions
of power).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Therefore, the ignorance and
apathy of “the mass society” is the product of the inability to acquire
multiple forms of capital and habitual behaviors even if they are potentially
able to access it through the symbolic capital. (Mills 2000, Foucault 1977,
hooks 2000, Bourdieu, 1987). This raises a couple of important and seemingly
opposite points:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="margin-left: .75in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">1.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">Symbolic Capital-
abstract forms of privilege based upon a variety of intersecting identities
(race, gender expression, sexuality, disability) does not guarantee access to,
nor exercise of other forms of power, while also not acting as a barrier to
that power (as it does for marginalized identities) <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="margin-left: .75in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">2.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">Symbolic
Capital does make the acquisition of other forms of power easier through Symbolic
Power: the ability to impose meanings upon others as “normal” or “natural”
without seeming coercive. This happens when a power system sets cishet able-bodied
white men as the default. This makes the symbolic power invisible to those that
have it, transforming expectation into entitlement </span><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In <i>Throne
of Blood, </i>both Washizu and Miki are introduced as “Men of Power” through their
Military prowess and command over their armies. At the outset of the film, both
understand their power and where it comes from. (Mills 2008). However, after their
encounter with the Spirit in Spider’s Web Forrest, and the fulfillment of its
first proclamation, for Washizu, this privilege becomes invisible. Then, as the
story progresses, his ambition to amass power becomes an expectation. As the
bodies begin to pile, and the blood continues to flow, that expectation is rationalized
into entitlement to explain the violent murders he either performs or condones;
using the words of the spirit as evidence.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>This is the demagoguery of masculinity, one that needs to be dismantled.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">According to de Beauvior
(2011):<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span></span><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">Indeed, [man] is a child , a contingent and vulnerable body, an
innocent, an unwanted drone, a mean tyrant, an egotist, a vain man: and he is
also a liberating hero, the divinity who sets the standards. His desire is a
gross appetite, his embrace a degrading chore: yet his ardor and virile force
are also a demiurgic energy…that woman confined to immanence tries to keep man
in this prison as well; thus the prison will merge with the world and she will
no longer suffer from being shut up in it: the mother, the wife, the lover are
all jailers; society codified by men decrees that women is inferior: she can
only abolish this inferiority by destroying male superiority</span></i><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;"> (p 655, 754)</span></i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">Given Beauvior’s point,
this could be an interesting motivation for Lady Macbeth to manipulate her
husband into the killing of Duncan in other (future) adaptations of <i>Macbeth,</i>
that I have yet to see.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiHxBFmCD_4EO5C7lKouAqbPtrAFZsBTzVsEWcufSkZSHLdVdk_6XgSvDfADzobVnEt2USy-rey3wQV35RCAAIr76S70ZfTJQ04aqlFokWQNS_sgXoml8uJzDabpvE5LpWS5UxPgNWMWnDliFKz4oXUD2E7jchH3cUazvXnIcRO_H1VjXPubp8-Wff35w=s400" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="282" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiHxBFmCD_4EO5C7lKouAqbPtrAFZsBTzVsEWcufSkZSHLdVdk_6XgSvDfADzobVnEt2USy-rey3wQV35RCAAIr76S70ZfTJQ04aqlFokWQNS_sgXoml8uJzDabpvE5LpWS5UxPgNWMWnDliFKz4oXUD2E7jchH3cUazvXnIcRO_H1VjXPubp8-Wff35w=w283-h400" width="283" /></a></div><br /><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">CONCLUSION
<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">Throne of Blood</span></i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;"> is a
Masterpiece and is heralded as one of the greatest Shakespeare adaptations in history.
Even without the romanticized dialogue, typically retained in most adaptations,
Kurosawa invokes the classic emotions of the play in a Japanese cultural
context. It’s recontextualization of the Scottish story into Feudal Japan
speaks to the universality of desire, greed and cunning within a militarized patriarchal
system. One that endlessly rewards violence and deception with more of the same.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Yet, regardless of its organization as a
cautionary tale, that does not guarantee the public perception and consumption of
it will see it as such.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">REFERENCES<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; text-indent: -.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">Bourdieu Pierre 1987. <i>Distinction: A Social
Critique of the Judgement of Taste </i>Massachusetts: Harvard University Press <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">_____________ 1998. <i>Masculine
Domination.</i> Stanford: Standford University Press <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">de Beauvior Simone 2011. <i>The Second Sex </i>New
York: Vintage Books<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; text-indent: -.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">Foucault Michel 1977. <i>Discipline and Punish:
The Birth of the Prison.</i> New York: Vintage Books <i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; text-indent: -.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; text-indent: -.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">hooks bell 2000. <i>Feminist Theory: From Margin
to Center 2<sup>nd</sup> edition</i> <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Massachusetts:
South End Press <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; text-indent: -.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; text-indent: -.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Kandiyoti, Deniz. 1988. “Bargaining
with Patriarchy.” In <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Gender and Society</i>
2, no. 3 pp 274–90. Retrieved on 1/3/22 Retrieved at </span><a href="about:blank"><span style="color: #0563c1; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">http://www.jstor.org/stable/190357</span></a><u><span style="color: #0563c1; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></u></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Mills, C. Wright 2000. <i>The Power Elite </i>New
York: Oxford University Press<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">______________2008 “On
Knowledge and Power” Pp. 125-137 in <i>The Politics of Truth: Selected Writings
of C. Wright Mills</i> New York<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: .5in; text-indent: -.5in;"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Prince, Stephen 2014.
“Shakespeare Transposed” in <i>The Current </i>New York: The Criterion
Collection Retrieved on Feb 6 2022. Retrieved at</span> <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><a href="https://www.criterion.com/current/posts/270-throne-of-blood-shakespeare-transposed">https://www.criterion.com/current/posts/270-throne-of-blood-shakespeare-transposed</a><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: .5in; text-indent: -.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: .5in; text-indent: -.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Weber Max 1978. <i>Economy
and Society</i> <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>California: University
of California Press. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i><o:p></o:p></i></span></p>
<div style="mso-element: footnote-list;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><br clear="all" />
<hr align="left" size="1" width="33%" />
<!--[endif]-->
<div id="ftn1" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<p class="MsoFootnoteText"><a href="https://d.docs.live.net/bb5a620476910e43/Documents/Sociologists%20Dojo/Throne%20of%20Blood%20Review%20.docx#_ftnref1" name="_ftn1" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn1;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[1]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a> <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Economic Capital- </i>wealth (income and
assets)<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoFootnoteText"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Cultural Capital
– </i>Education and other forms of knowledge, skills, goods and services<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoFootnoteText"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Social Capital- </i>Family,
acquaintances and other Social Networks <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoFootnoteText"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Symbolic Capital</i>-
legitimation, Abstract forms of privilege (white, male, hetero, able bodied)<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoFootnoteText"><o:p> </o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="ftn2" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<p class="MsoFootnoteText"><a href="https://d.docs.live.net/bb5a620476910e43/Documents/Sociologists%20Dojo/Throne%20of%20Blood%20Review%20.docx#_ftnref2" name="_ftn2" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn2;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[2]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a> 1)<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>They are arenas of struggle for
control over valued resources (forms of capital) which become social relations
of power.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoFootnoteText">2)<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>They
are structured spaces of dominant and subordinate positions based upon types
and amounts of capital<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Usually unequally
distributed <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoFootnoteText">3)<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The
impose upon actors (individuals) specific forms of struggle they are the space
in which conflict resides <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoFootnoteText">4)<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Fields
are often structured by their own internal mechanisms of development allowing
them to hold some autonomy<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="ftn3" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<p class="MsoFootnoteText"><a href="https://d.docs.live.net/bb5a620476910e43/Documents/Sociologists%20Dojo/Throne%20of%20Blood%20Review%20.docx#_ftnref3" name="_ftn3" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn3;" title=""></a>Bio Power is the ability to control how a person
experiences their body Through:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoFootnoteText">-Controlling how their body functions (when they can
eat, sleep, use the restroom). <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoFootnoteText">-Controlling how the body is represented (restrictions
on how the body is expressed<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
</div><br /><p></p>Brian Brutlaghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08099644007940320266noreply@blogger.com