I just got back from viewing "Father and Gun" and this movie also displayed a lot of masculinity characteristics. The movie was about a father and son who are on the police force in a special unit. They were on a mission trying to capture a biker gang. During their sting operation, the son's best friend who is also on the special force unit, gets kidnapped. The father and son do not know of the best friend's where abouts. The only person who would know would be the biker gangs defense lawyer. Mean while the lawyer is having family problems and his son hates him. It came to the lawyer's wife's realization that the lawyer and his son need a special retreat so they could bond and solve their problems. So they end up going through with a program that takes a group of father and sons to the wilderness and tries to counsel them and work out differences. The father and son from the police unit, come up with the idea that they must go undercover in order to get close to the lawyer so he could confess information about the biker gang.
In the program out in the forest, there were a few exercises that the group had to do to share how they really felt. One of them was to pick out a toy that reminded them about the other. The Father who is a cop, picked out a barbie doll because he felt that the barbie doll best described his son. He said that he is just like a girl, with his sensitivity, whining, need for attention, and other "famine" characteristics. This is when I first noticed that this film expressed masculinity and its roles. According to this film, a man has to know his gender role. He has to be tough, not sensitive, like sports, drink beer, and be independent. We all know that these things are not true. All men have feelings and the way this movie portray men is false but they do it in a humorous way, which I liked because I feel like it was a way to tell the audience to obviously not take those ideas seriously.
The lawyer's character displayed the most masculine role. He was the rough and tough person who did not like those who were men that were sensitive and did not display manly characteristics. He did not want to talk about his feelings and emotions nor did he want to hear about them. He was really annoyed with the father and son couple that loved each other so much and talked about their emotion. The only time the lawyer was having fun and had a smile on his face was when he was involved an a "manly" sport. An example of this is when they did the mud wrestling exercise. He was yelling and cheering and looked like he was having a good time. Another time was when they went hunting for food. He was excited about the idea and enjoyed the hunt. When it came down to talking and actually sharing each others feelings. The lawyer remained quite and uncomfortable. He was too much of a man to talk about "sissy" stuff.
As we all know the ideas and characteristics that were portrayed in this movie are a myth. We all have feelings and can express emotion. Sometimes its good to talk things out and express how we feel. We as men always do. It does not mean we are less then a man if we do. I feel that although the movie displayed these ideas, they did it in a way to make the audience laugh because truly, that belief is ridiculous. This movie made me laugh and was very entertaining.
Friday, June 4, 2010
SIFF " Father and Guns"
I just got back from viewing "Father and Gun" and this movie also displayed a lot of masculinity characteristics. The movie was about a father and son who are on the police force in a special unit. They were on a mission trying to capture a biker gang. During their sting operation, the son's best friend who is also on the special force unit, gets kidnapped. The father and son do not know of the best friend's where abouts. The only person who would know would be the biker gangs defense lawyer. Mean while the lawyer is having family problems and his son hates him. It came to the lawyer's wife's realization that the lawyer and his son need a special retreat so they could bond and solve their problems. So they end up going through with a program that takes a group of father and sons to the wilderness and tries to counsel them and work out differences. The father and son from the police unit, come up with the idea that they must go undercover in order to get close to the lawyer so he could confess information about the biker gang.
In the program out in the forest, there were a few exercises that the group had to do to share how they really felt. One of them was to pick out a toy that reminded them about the other. The Father who is a cop, picked out a barbie doll because he felt that the barbie doll best described his son. He said that he is just like a girl, with his sensitivity, whining, need for attention, and other "famine" characteristics. This is when I first noticed that this film expressed masculinity and its roles. According to this film, a man has to know his gender role. He has to be tough, not sensitive, like sports, drink beer, and be independent. We all know that these things are not true. All men have feelings and the way this movie portray men is false but they do it in a humorous way, which I liked because I feel like it was a way to tell the audience to obviously not take those ideas seriously.
The lawyer's character displayed the most masculine role. He was the rough and tough person who did not like those who were men that were sensitive and did not display manly characteristics. He did not want to talk about his feelings and emotions nor did he want to hear about them. He was really annoyed with the father and son couple that loved each other so much and talked about their emotion. The only time the lawyer was having fun and had a smile on his face was when he was involved an a "manly" sport. An example of this is when they did the mud wrestling exercise. He was yelling and cheering and looked like he was having a good time. Another time was when they went hunting for food. He was excited about the idea and enjoyed the hunt. When it came down to talking and actually sharing each others feelings. The lawyer remained quite and uncomfortable. He was too much of a man to talk about "sissy" stuff.
As we all know the ideas and characteristics that were portrayed in this movie are a myth. We all have feelings and can express emotion. Sometimes its good to talk things out and express how we feel. We as men always do. It does not mean we are less then a man if we do. I feel that although the movie displayed these ideas, they did it in a way to make the audience laugh because truly, that belief is ridiculous. This movie made me laugh and was very entertaining.
In the program out in the forest, there were a few exercises that the group had to do to share how they really felt. One of them was to pick out a toy that reminded them about the other. The Father who is a cop, picked out a barbie doll because he felt that the barbie doll best described his son. He said that he is just like a girl, with his sensitivity, whining, need for attention, and other "famine" characteristics. This is when I first noticed that this film expressed masculinity and its roles. According to this film, a man has to know his gender role. He has to be tough, not sensitive, like sports, drink beer, and be independent. We all know that these things are not true. All men have feelings and the way this movie portray men is false but they do it in a humorous way, which I liked because I feel like it was a way to tell the audience to obviously not take those ideas seriously.
The lawyer's character displayed the most masculine role. He was the rough and tough person who did not like those who were men that were sensitive and did not display manly characteristics. He did not want to talk about his feelings and emotions nor did he want to hear about them. He was really annoyed with the father and son couple that loved each other so much and talked about their emotion. The only time the lawyer was having fun and had a smile on his face was when he was involved an a "manly" sport. An example of this is when they did the mud wrestling exercise. He was yelling and cheering and looked like he was having a good time. Another time was when they went hunting for food. He was excited about the idea and enjoyed the hunt. When it came down to talking and actually sharing each others feelings. The lawyer remained quite and uncomfortable. He was too much of a man to talk about "sissy" stuff.
As we all know the ideas and characteristics that were portrayed in this movie are a myth. We all have feelings and can express emotion. Sometimes its good to talk things out and express how we feel. We as men always do. It does not mean we are less then a man if we do. I feel that although the movie displayed these ideas, they did it in a way to make the audience laugh because truly, that belief is ridiculous. This movie made me laugh and was very entertaining.
Thursday, June 3, 2010
SIFF " Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll"
The SIFF movie "Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll" was an entertaining piece that displayed Masculinity throughout. The movie was about a Singer from a rock band. The film was about his life as a rock star, from how he got started to late stages of his band. There were times when they would show clips of his childhood that would relate to his current events. The main character was a married man when he began his band. He had two children, a boy and a girl. The movie showed the early struggles of a band by displaying stress, and hardship from trying to book gigs. Later the band started to get acknowledged and they slowly began to become a hit band. After one of the big concerts, The main character encounters two things. He has an altercation with his drummer.The drummer quits on him or at least he makes an effort because before he could finish his sentence, the main character "the lead singer" fires him. Soon after that he meets a groupie that he ends up dating. He also meets a young man who replaces the drummer. This was the starting point of the band becoming big. Parallel to their rising in stardom, acts occurred that many would think as a negative portrayal. The main character ends up buying a separate place, different from his family's,and ends up moving in with his mistress and is guilty of adultery. This later results into the wife asking for a divorce. During his experience in the rock scene, the main character has his son go along with him on tour and has his son experience everything that he does on in the rock world. When the son began to have a major role in the film, he was portrayed as dorky and a loser. He was picked on at school and was very awkward with people. By the end of the movie, he was a cool cat. Did i mention that the character was disabled and needs a prosthetic leg? Something I liked about the film was that the director did not immediately identify that the character had a disability. Everything went on as normal and it was up to the viewer to notice that the main character had only one strong leg.
The reason why I wanted to talk about masculinity in this movie is because in every scene, every piece, there was masculinity. So much that the women were only on screen as an idea of objectification. This film does not even pass the Bechtel test, where the women does not have conversation that does not involve a man. The characters on the film displayed characteristics that would be described my social norm as "Manly" things. Such as smoking, swearing, drug use, being a womanizer, and the strive for success. In the main character's married life, he was the man of the house. He was the one that made the decisions, and the wife was the one that cooked, cleaned, and took care of the children. The gender roles were easily identified during the marriage scenes. Once the son was able to travel around with the dad through the rock band experience, the film expressed how masculinity could change a child from being a loser to a rock star. As mentioned before, The kid was every awkward at first. The kid was heavily influenced by all the masculinity, that he began to change his hair to more of a punk look, clothes that were tore up and cut off, he swore and did not even go to school at times, which was to show he had become a rebel. The daughter in the film was only shown a couple of times and when she was, she was with her mother and was very quit and proper. The transformation of the child turning into a macho man took a halt when he took some drugs and nearly died. Displaying scenes like that make me think of manly experiences.
This film was good to watch, I laughed, and was interested throughout the film. It was clear that the film wanted to glorify "man" by displaying many characteristics of a manly man and ommitting women for the most part. Through this film the director was able to tie in a plot and picture that was creative which set him apart from mainstream film which I was glad I had an opportunity to witness.
The reason why I wanted to talk about masculinity in this movie is because in every scene, every piece, there was masculinity. So much that the women were only on screen as an idea of objectification. This film does not even pass the Bechtel test, where the women does not have conversation that does not involve a man. The characters on the film displayed characteristics that would be described my social norm as "Manly" things. Such as smoking, swearing, drug use, being a womanizer, and the strive for success. In the main character's married life, he was the man of the house. He was the one that made the decisions, and the wife was the one that cooked, cleaned, and took care of the children. The gender roles were easily identified during the marriage scenes. Once the son was able to travel around with the dad through the rock band experience, the film expressed how masculinity could change a child from being a loser to a rock star. As mentioned before, The kid was every awkward at first. The kid was heavily influenced by all the masculinity, that he began to change his hair to more of a punk look, clothes that were tore up and cut off, he swore and did not even go to school at times, which was to show he had become a rebel. The daughter in the film was only shown a couple of times and when she was, she was with her mother and was very quit and proper. The transformation of the child turning into a macho man took a halt when he took some drugs and nearly died. Displaying scenes like that make me think of manly experiences.
This film was good to watch, I laughed, and was interested throughout the film. It was clear that the film wanted to glorify "man" by displaying many characteristics of a manly man and ommitting women for the most part. Through this film the director was able to tie in a plot and picture that was creative which set him apart from mainstream film which I was glad I had an opportunity to witness.
Thursday, May 20, 2010
Only the strong survive
There are many stories in mass media of people over coming obstacles, and most of them are heart warming and motivating. What I have realized in the past couple of weeks is that there is a lack of movies, stories, or any type of representation in media that display a disabled person adjusting to their different life styles, especially without a negative attitude about certain adjustments. I would like to see the media focus more on positivity involving characters with disabilities. I can only think of three movies of the top of my head, and I would like to see more stories about people with disabilities in a positive, encouraging, and motivating way. Something I see even less of is women with disabilities. Those are almost non-existing. An observation that I have made with the very few movies of people with disabilities that I’ve seen is that they are portrayed with less masculinity. An Example of this is “Radio” where they pick on him all the time and needs the coach’s help to defend himself, or in the movie “Remember the Titans”, where there was a scene after one of the players was involved in a car accident and was paralyzed. In the hospital he was crying and looked helpless, and hopeless. The film never showed any positive scenes during his state as a paraplegic.
On “Good Morning America”, their studio aired a piece on Kevin Everett, a former football player for the Buffalo Bills. On the first play of the game he made a tackle that caused him to be paralyzed. He lay on the field motionless. He heard his teammates yelling at him to get up so he made an effort, but he just could not move. The ambulance had to come down to tend to him, while his teammates gathered in prayer. Once the ambulance took him to the hospital, it was there where doctors told his family that he would never walk again. This information brought heartbreak to Kevin’s family. For Kevin, seeing his family sad hurt him more than the whole accident itself. Good Morning America spent time with Kevin from when he first was admitted into the hospital through rehabilitation. It was in the rehabilitation where the miracle happened. Kevin began to have some feelings in his toes and fingers. Kevin is a very strong person, mentally and physically. He pushed everyday to improve his health. He worked hard each day, and was motivated by the idea to prove every body wrong. After a month, Kevin made his first step. Today he is walking, when people doubted him. Through this experience Kevin has made motivational speeches and has even written a book titled, “Standing Tall”. This makes a person think to never lose hope, and be determined every day. Even if it’s not looking like you are going to walk, don’t feel bad for yourself. Find things that will bring you joy and execute. I hope there are more films and stories like these that bring more positive light to disabilities because I feel that they can be enlightening.
This story brought tears to my eyes because it showed how strong a person can be even as a disabled individual. It showed toughness and resilience. The story focused more on the positives and as you watch the “YouTube” clip, you notice that it omits much of the negative details. It focuses more on overcoming the struggles. I would also like to see more movies or stories about people accepting who they are such as “Murderball”, because each individual is beautiful in their own way.
I got the clip off of "youtube" under Kevin Everett
Wednesday, May 12, 2010
The Program
Growing up with parents that were immigrants, in a land that was completely foreign to us was a bit of a challenge. We didn't have family in America that we could fall back to for support. It was tough for my parents to obtain a stable job and raise a family, but an American program did come to our Aid. This program is called welfare. We received some help from the government when my family established themselves in America. My parent's had very low income and had to figure out strategies to take care of the family. We couldn't afford a babysitter so my parent's split shifts at work in order to take care of us. I remember we would receive peanut butter, canned food, and food stamps from the welfare program. Through this experience, my feelings grew positive toward the welfare program because today I feel that if it wasn't for this program, my family and I would have never moved up from the poverty level and into middle class. Due to the fact of our success through the welfare program I feel that ultimately I will always be in favor of it.
Through out high school and into college I would have debates with my peers about welfare. This was a huge issue during the 2009 Presidential race. Many of my peers are republicans and against welfare, due to tax increases and many times I would debate this issue. Those who oppose welfare brought up some interesting and understandable points. it made me think that the program is not perfect but it is definitely a necessity. It's a program that minorities and low income residents have access to that differs from institutionalize white privileged programs. Welfare focuses on giving the minority a chance to succeed in a land where it almost seems that the rich are getting richer and the poor stay the same, because low income residents do not have the opportunities,networks, and support that middle to upper class do. As mentioned before, I understand the welfare program is not perfect but we can work on the problems rather than eliminating it completely.
There are people that take advantage of the system. During the most recent recession, I noticed a few things. One thing that caught my attention was the "unemployment" group. It is very unfortunate to see people loose their jobs. What I did witness through observing my own friends was that there were a few that were taking advantage of the system of support. A few of my friends who lost their jobs filled for unemployment and they received help. Rather than working on finding a new job, my friends took it as a vacation and just relaxed and enjoyed the time off. Those same friends applied for an extension and received it, and still are up to the same thing. There are always going to be people taking advantage of helpful systems so I understand peoples frustration, but I do feel that if we work on bettering the program, welfare will be beneficial to our country.
I am very thankful for our welfare program. From a person that experienced it first hand, I can say it truly works. I don't think I would have move above the poverty line, have gone to a private high school, go to a University, play football for the University, and live what i feel so far as the beginning of an American Dream, with out programs such as this one.
Through out high school and into college I would have debates with my peers about welfare. This was a huge issue during the 2009 Presidential race. Many of my peers are republicans and against welfare, due to tax increases and many times I would debate this issue. Those who oppose welfare brought up some interesting and understandable points. it made me think that the program is not perfect but it is definitely a necessity. It's a program that minorities and low income residents have access to that differs from institutionalize white privileged programs. Welfare focuses on giving the minority a chance to succeed in a land where it almost seems that the rich are getting richer and the poor stay the same, because low income residents do not have the opportunities,networks, and support that middle to upper class do. As mentioned before, I understand the welfare program is not perfect but we can work on the problems rather than eliminating it completely.
There are people that take advantage of the system. During the most recent recession, I noticed a few things. One thing that caught my attention was the "unemployment" group. It is very unfortunate to see people loose their jobs. What I did witness through observing my own friends was that there were a few that were taking advantage of the system of support. A few of my friends who lost their jobs filled for unemployment and they received help. Rather than working on finding a new job, my friends took it as a vacation and just relaxed and enjoyed the time off. Those same friends applied for an extension and received it, and still are up to the same thing. There are always going to be people taking advantage of helpful systems so I understand peoples frustration, but I do feel that if we work on bettering the program, welfare will be beneficial to our country.
I am very thankful for our welfare program. From a person that experienced it first hand, I can say it truly works. I don't think I would have move above the poverty line, have gone to a private high school, go to a University, play football for the University, and live what i feel so far as the beginning of an American Dream, with out programs such as this one.
Thursday, May 6, 2010
The Statue of Liberty brings different thoughts to each individual. In our family one phrase comes to mind, "We made it". It isn't easy being a Mexican immigrant trying to make it in America. Every culture has their own struggles and oppressions such as the Irish, African Americans, Asians, and Native Americans in early America. Experiencing life through my parents made me realize the "tough skin" one must have in order to succeed in a land that portrays an immigrant as "alien"
My parents were both born in Mexico. They grew up there until their late teens/early twenties when they decided to move to America. At this time employment in Mexico was hard to obtain. My parents heard about the "American Dream" so they gambled to achieve success, and journeyed across the boarder. They arrived into America illegally and began to raise a family in a foreign location. Compared to Mexico, America was different in weather, landscape, and culture. My parents explained to me that it was very difficult to adapt because of the language barrier. They overcame this obstacle by attending night classes. Now if I look at this situation and take a look at laws that are trying to be passed currently, such as forcing everyone to take the driving test in English, it would make receiving a license for my parents nearly impossible to do so. If my parents could not drive, it would be a slim to none chance my parents would make the effort to learn English. It would have made things so much harder. Once my parents learned English, things were a bit easier. Life was still rough because although they could carry a conversation in English, they still had a thick accent and my dad dressed as a cowboy. This brought a lot of racism and stereotypes. I don't know how my dad did it but he blocked it out and just worked hard. My family only cared about taking care of the family. Throughout the years my parents assimilated and after 13 years both my parents earned their citizenship. I was proud of my parents for becoming American Citizens. This got me thinking though. My parents did have to assimilate to make things easier. I have many assumptions on what caused my parents to try to assimilate such as racism and stereotypes, or maybe media influence.
Now my parents are doing well and are considered middle class. They have done things that they never thought they could have done. Four years ago my parents went on a vacation to New York. It was their first time going there. When they arrived to New York the first thing my dad wanted to do was visit the Statue of Liberty. Once they arrived to the Statue my dad stood there and stared at it for at least 5 minutes in complete silence. The fist words that came out of his mouth were “We made it”.
the image above is borrowed from:www.visitingdc.com/new-york/statue-of-liberty...
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