MAKE UP FOR BLOG # 4

The other night I watched the movie called "Baby Mama" with my boyfriend. At first I just watched the movie and laughed through the whole thing, but afterwards I realized that the main character was going against the stereotype society has for women, and was in a way punished for it. In the movie a woman puts of marriage and dating for a long time and just focuses on work. She becomes the vice president of the company she is working for, but finds herself wanting a baby. So she hires a surrogate mother and the film takes off from there. The movie shows how hard it is for society to accept you if you happen to be an independent woman. In one scene her mother bascially says she'll never get married because shes to focused on herself and her work. It's also hard for her to adopt a baby because shes an independent woman, which I think is stupid. In the end this movie was yet another example of the constraints society sets on women.

MAKE UP FOR BLOG # 3

Yesterday I was watching one of my favorite childhood movies called The Borrowers. In the movie there are tiny people who "borrow" from human beings to survive in the floor boards of the house. But although these tiny people live amongst humans they cannot be seen by humans. If they are seen they are squished by the humans(or so the myth says). In the beginning of the film and throughout the gender roles were very prominent. The women in the family were supposed to stay behind while the men went out to "borrow" things from the house. Because the outside world was too dangerous for clumsy women. Contrary to the roles the movie shows the young girl and boy have reversed gender roles. The young girl loves to go out and "borrow". She gets angry when she is not aloud to explore and often goes against the rules out of curiousty. The young boy is completley opposite. He would rather stay in the house beneath the floor boards and doesn't like adventure, and he rarely deviates from the rules. I think this movie is an example of how society is changing over time with gender roles and socialization.

Karate Chopping Gender Reversal

As usual I was watching an episode of Spongebob Squarepants today. In today's epidsode Spongbob and Sandy were karate fighting the entire show because Sandy thinks she is, and is, tougher than Spongebob. After watching this episode it really got me thinking about Sandy in general. Sandy wears a pretty flower in her hair and wears a bikini, but all of her manurisms on the show contradict her physical appearence. What girly girl could really kick somebody elses butt, and love doing it. Sandy is also very independent and assertive. These characteriscs mirror what society says about masculinity. Spongebob is weak, passive, and very dependent on others, this mirrors the definition of femninity in society. Could this role reversal be trying to even out gender roles in society? Could this mean that the producers want boys and girls to know that they can be how they want? After watching this episode I think they were trying to let children know that they can act how they want regardless of gender roles. Maybe society is changing after all.