Focusing on Theorists and Films - Assignment Example

What would de Beauvoir have to say about the gender narrative in Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest? De Beauvior was a philosopher who initially considered herself as an author. She pointed out the oppression women go through in our society. The point where women are not considered as equal to men, this happens in terms of power and other high status in the society. The liberty to women is in their power to be productive, active and be able to reign. Working for a woman is not considered as liberty or freedom to them. If a woman chooses feminism world to be independent then she will suffer inferiority complex; she will lack pleasure in order to remain seductive. For instance in the Pirate of Caribbean Keira Knightley as Elizabeth Swann is portrayed as a female who is trying to work against the expectation of the society as a she joins the pirates in search of the Dead man’s Chest. She changes her cloths and pretends to be a male. Her younger and fashionable face is being used in the film as costume cinema. She acts as the cover girl of the Magazine. She is seen in the film as moving from hyper-feminism to androgyny where she is changing her body shape from a lady with almost flat chest to one with bosom; she becomes more in between the masculine and feminine. Elizabeth as the film continues she is portrayed a warrior with the boy-like cloths with a sword and big black hat this is a strategy to have her as androgynous. According to de Beauvior young women are tempted to surrender their bodies for support from the male, Elizabeth Swann in the Pirates of the Caribbean is tempted to surrender her body so that she could be assisted by the Jack Sparrow in her search for her boyfriend. Young women have to please men in order to succeed in their life. De Beauvior points out in her book the second sex that women in this time do not escape the traditional feminism, in the film Elizabeth is seen with a thin body and boyish hips in order to maintain the approval of the society. The media drew large attention to her dressing in the Pirates of the Caribbean 2 on her low-cut gold dress which highlights the dressing style of the celebrities in our current society. This shows that traditional feminism is still being practiced and for a woman to be independent, they have to stay with it. Elizabeth has been highlighted on various media with her bony frame, thin hands and legs with collar bones very exposed. De Beauvior would have said that Pirated of the Caribbean has shown as that women are equal to men and they can all perform equally. The ‘warrior’ status given to the female actress and her efforts in the sea struggle give us an independent woman. Being able to fight and be of great help in such circumstances would be considered by de Beauvior as “she must inspire respect by her costume and manners”! 1. Consider Meaghan Morris’s argument about culture, power, and the popular using the film Mr and Mrs Smith to elaborate Morris’s key points. The film Mr and Mrs Smith which featured Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie as Jane and John Smith centered at a couple which lived secrete lives. They were very skilled assassins who then were hired to assassinate each other. This shows the struggle for power for both men and women in the society. Morris calls popular culture as a culture accustomed to war, struggle, emergency and invasion. He argues that when talking about culture one should not narrow down to one text but should look at a wider perspective of life. The power struggle in the film is illustrated when the couple wants to assassin each other. The fight in this play shows the normal fights experienced in real-life by couples therefore the film is showing the popular culture within our society. Morris in his work he illustrates how his parents have a fight with the coming of the TV in Australia, this is also illustrated in the film of Mr. and Mrs. Smith where there is a completion between the partners. Discuss feminist theory’s debt to psychoanalysis. You must refer to both of the texts uploaded for week 11 in your answer but you can also refer to any other set texts on the unit that help your answer. Feminist theory’s debt to psychoanalysis focuses on the relationship between fashion images, their fascination for female viewers and self harming of young women. It helps us to have knowledge of the grasp this kind has over the generation of young women, the point where pain comes in, the self-punishment and the loss resulting to the images of the young female appearing on the magazines whose demand is slime bodies. The theory also looks at the double loss that accrues from the young women striving to be recognized in the society. The analysis looks at how young women in the society strive to be in attain standard and norm of the society where body weight is an issue, these practices are referred to as self-harming because in the long run they suffer mentally and healthy wise. This theory shifts away from the traditional norm where the media has been blamed for the causes and effects of the fashion on young women. This theory looks at how women in the society strive to achieve a sense of recognition and identity in the society but in the process develop serious complication some leading to mental disorder and committing suicide. It is urged that anorexia is as a result of young women seeking for approval in the society such school and other social places hence feminism disorder is more social than it was perceived as self. There is a debate on the high image fashion which encourages eating disorder, low-esteem and fear on their body weight. The fashion magazines are characterized by extreme thinness, thin legs and arms, almost flat chest and narrow hips. The theory points out that this are negative values that a young women have come to appreciate and live with it as part of them. According to Butler’s thinking on feminism, the two losses that young women encounter are the loss of the same sex object of love which is an important factor in gaining gendered position which results to imperfect girls. The second loss is the loss of feminist ideal liberty and equality which is always accompanied with love among the women. The physic pain caused to young women according to Butler(1997a) is as a result of social pressure and the standards of the magazines. This has institutionalized and consolidated the environment of the young women that of inexplicable anxiety, pain, rage and self-harming as normal and acceptable. Feminism is considered as a private matter that young women do not like ot share with anyone but solve it internal by themselves. The young women of nowadays does not escape from the traditional feminism because they get their assistance neither from the society nor their husbands. It is clear that for a young woman to be liberated there must be desire to take political position, be on frontline in the unions’ fight and have faith in their future. 1. Discuss the influence of Marxism on cultural theory. You must refer to both of the texts uploaded for week 12 in your answer but you can also refer to any other set texts on the unit that help your answer. Marxism critique on ideology has been influential to different scholars in their writing on cultural theories. Marxian theory has been utilized by many scholars such as Goerg Lukacs, Ernst Bloch among others who are commonly known as Marxian theorist in analyzing the forms of culture in reference to their production, how they connect with the society and history and how these cultural forms impact the audiences and social life. Marxism is therefore not only import in the formation and development of cultural studies but also to the understanding of the cultural studies; the forms and types of cultural studies in this century. Cultural forms are considered as one of the ‘superstructures’ in the base/superstructure model in the Marx’s theory of society. The Marxian approach to cultural forms always carried important meaning and application to specific socio-economic functions. For instance, there are cultural ideas that are beneficial to the dominant class. Dominant ideas according to Marx promote interests of a given class which help in covering the dark side of that group. The dark side in this case is the injustices, oppression and negative impression from the society. Although Marx’s work did not come up with models of cultural analysis, many cultural Marxists have been able to come up with models that describe the forms of culture. The following are some of the Marxists who have in their work developed the cultural analysis model basing on the Marx’s ideologies and arguments. Georg Lukacs a Hungarian critic on culture had written so many books such as Soul and Form()1900) and Theory of the Novel (1910), he came up with various dimensions of political and philosophical of Marxism. Ernst Block, longs for a world that he describes as better and a society which is transformed by looking at the dimension of western culture and how culture is written. He looks at culture as something that is an alternative to the present world; the ideas and images. According to Antonio Gramsci who is a Marxist roots on the idea that hegemony is a constituted by ruling intellectual and cultural forces. Althusser and Gramsci had an influence in the British cultural studies within the year 1960s and 1980s which had adopted the cultural Marxism. To conclude the above discussion, it is clear that cultural Marxism was very influential across the world where theorists from France, Italy England and other nations used the Cultural Marxism in designing modes of cultural studies. The cultural studies analyzed the how cultural artifacts are produced, interpreted and received in an environment where political and ideological effects and used were hotly competed. Centre for contemporary cultural studies based in Birmingham England is an example of the cultural Marxism influence which had a group referred to Birmingham School. Read More

1. Consider Meaghan Morris’s argument about culture, power, and the popular using the film Mr and Mrs Smith to elaborate Morris’s key points. The film Mr and Mrs Smith which featured Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie as Jane and John Smith centered at a couple which lived secrete lives. They were very skilled assassins who then were hired to assassinate each other. This shows the struggle for power for both men and women in the society. Morris calls popular culture as a culture accustomed to war, struggle, emergency and invasion.

He argues that when talking about culture one should not narrow down to one text but should look at a wider perspective of life. The power struggle in the film is illustrated when the couple wants to assassin each other. The fight in this play shows the normal fights experienced in real-life by couples therefore the film is showing the popular culture within our society. Morris in his work he illustrates how his parents have a fight with the coming of the TV in Australia, this is also illustrated in the film of Mr. and Mrs. Smith where there is a completion between the partners.

Discuss feminist theory’s debt to psychoanalysis. You must refer to both of the texts uploaded for week 11 in your answer but you can also refer to any other set texts on the unit that help your answer. Feminist theory’s debt to psychoanalysis focuses on the relationship between fashion images, their fascination for female viewers and self harming of young women. It helps us to have knowledge of the grasp this kind has over the generation of young women, the point where pain comes in, the self-punishment and the loss resulting to the images of the young female appearing on the magazines whose demand is slime bodies.

The theory also looks at the double loss that accrues from the young women striving to be recognized in the society. The analysis looks at how young women in the society strive to be in attain standard and norm of the society where body weight is an issue, these practices are referred to as self-harming because in the long run they suffer mentally and healthy wise. This theory shifts away from the traditional norm where the media has been blamed for the causes and effects of the fashion on young women.

This theory looks at how women in the society strive to achieve a sense of recognition and identity in the society but in the process develop serious complication some leading to mental disorder and committing suicide. It is urged that anorexia is as a result of young women seeking for approval in the society such school and other social places hence feminism disorder is more social than it was perceived as self. There is a debate on the high image fashion which encourages eating disorder, low-esteem and fear on their body weight.

The fashion magazines are characterized by extreme thinness, thin legs and arms, almost flat chest and narrow hips. The theory points out that this are negative values that a young women have come to appreciate and live with it as part of them. According to Butler’s thinking on feminism, the two losses that young women encounter are the loss of the same sex object of love which is an important factor in gaining gendered position which results to imperfect girls. The second loss is the loss of feminist ideal liberty and equality which is always accompanied with love among the women.

The physic pain caused to young women according to Butler(1997a) is as a result of social pressure and the standards of the magazines. This has institutionalized and consolidated the environment of the young women that of inexplicable anxiety, pain, rage and self-harming as normal and acceptable. Feminism is considered as a private matter that young women do not like ot share with anyone but solve it internal by themselves. The young women of nowadays does not escape from the traditional feminism because they get their assistance neither from the society nor their husbands.

It is clear that for a young woman to be liberated there must be desire to take political position, be on frontline in the unions’ fight and have faith in their future. 1.

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