Glee S1 E1 ‘Pilot’: A Feminist Analysis
Within the first episode of the hit television series, Glee, we are introduced to a variety of unique personalities. As we are introduced to the various characters, it becomes apparent that they are more than simply ‘average’ people. Each member has his/her own uniqueness. Yet the women in particular seem to have more of the striking encounters, as compared to the men, who seem to play more of a passive role. It seems that the women are the ones who are portrayed as the stronger of the two genders; mentally, if not physically.
In one instance, Lea Michelle, the lead singer of the Glee Club, seems to be a girl who is ambitious, very confident in her talents, and strives to achieve success in what she
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In the interactions we are exposed to between him and his wife, he is making fair points, such as calling her out for buying unnecessary items, yet she replies in a satirical manner, “It is not a bad thing to want things, Will”, as if it’s a meaningful answer. Will doesn’t respond and the scene ends shortly after in his silence. This proves further that the women in Glee portray themselves as strong beings, who are able to influence the men around them with relative impunity.
Perhaps the strongest female in this episode, is Sue Sylvester. Although we see little of her within this episode, her introduction as the Coach of the high school cheerleading team portrays her as an aggressive female, who is strong, bold, and cunning in contrast to the male football coach, Ken, who seems to be disarranged and dimwitted.
It seems that Glee challenges the theory that men are stronger than women, and flips the table, enabling the females to have stronger personalities overall. All of the women we are introduced to seem confident and independent in their pursuits, and thus it is fair to believe that the show might be trying to make a point to its viewers, encouraging women to step up, be more confident in themselves, and lead their lives the way they see
Tina comes across as a confident teen, but with puberty there’s
In the story “The Story of an Hour” Mrs. Mallard thinks her husband dies from getting in an accident and she doesn't react like people think she should. The feminist lens is represented through most of the story. The feminist lens looks at how women are supposed to act and be in society and focuses on if the do a action that is manly or not. In the story when Mrs. Mallard’s husband dies she hides how she truly feels from everyone else and goes in a room to express it. She doesn’t cry forever she only cries for a little bit.
An article we read this semester, Girls Gone Anti-Feminist highlights the disconnect between feminism in the 70s to feminism by millennials today. One interesting thing I found in this article was the way the author compared Hillary Clinton and Sarah Palin to the Spice Girls and Lady Gaga as representing feminism. Normally, Hillary Clinton and Sarah Palin are not mentioned in the same sentence as the Spice Girls and Lady Gaga as they are in completely different professions and have different fan basses and followers. However, all of them embody the idea that a woman can be anything she wants to be from a singer to President of the United States. The way the author compares these women points out the differences in the broad ways feminism can be represented.
Glee as a Postmodernist Worldview One of my favorite shows of all time is Glee. Maybe that’s because I love musicals or maybe because the whole premise of the show written down to one idea is that it tolerates diversity and that everyone writes their own path. The show Glee is about a bunch of misfit teenagers who are bullied for their differences and in return come together and create music together. All the kids in the show have a different race, sexual preference, religion and culture. The unique and amazing fact of this show is that they embrace each other’s differences
In the movie “A League of Their Own”, one can see how the more sexist views of the culture in the 1940s and 50s in America was present in the Girls Professional Baseball League. “A League of Their Own” is a movie about what was once the “All-American Girls Professional Baseball League” which was formed when the young men were sent over to serve in World War II. One of the most obvious cultural views that this movie shows is the feminizing of the baseball players to make them “more acceptable and women like”. Unlike men’s uniforms, that include a full shirt and pants, they were to wear skirts that were very short, too short to play baseball in comfortably. This alone shows how this league was just as much about show as it was about the women’s talent.
It’s a classic comparison. Ancient vs modern. Misogyny vs liberation through love. The Taming of The Shrew vs 10 Things I Hate About You. Are these films love stories about men liberating women, or are they exercises in misogyny?
In the book “You May Ask Yourself”, they define gender roles as “sets of behavioral norms assumed to accompany one’s status as male or female” (Conley Dalton). Gender roles are a very controversial matter. When people think of males, they automatically think of strong, brave, and the breadwinner. On the other hand, when people think of females they think delicate, housewife, and sensitive. I guarantee that most people in the world have this idea of each gender.
When a Damian, a character in Mean Girls, was explaining who Regina George was, the movie cuts into a variety of scenes of different girls explaining who Regina George is, and they say, “She’s the queen bee”, “Regina George is flawless”, and “one time she punched me in the face; it was awesome.” In another scene, Regina told Cady, the protagonist of the movie, “No no no you can’t do that, its social suicide.” Regina is being symbolized as the gender police by telling Cady that she can’t do something because it is not “girl like”. Because Regina George is portrayed as the “gender police”, Mean Girls is a movie that enforces gender roles. To conclude, Regina George is a character that is used to enforce gender roles up on society.
The story “A Story in an Hour” was written by Kate Chopin, a recently recognized feminist writer. In this short story we find four characters, the protagonist Louise Mallard a women with heart problems that cannot get overly excited or extremely sad situations. Brently Mallard Louise’s husband, a kind and loving man. Josephine Louise’s sister cares very deeply about her sister and helps Louise with her heart problems. Finally Richards, he is Brently’s friend he is present during one of Louise’s, supposedly, difficult moments.
What is the role of women and crime? A majority of criminology theories do not heavily place women’s stance of crime and, as the emphasis of lawbreaking is focused mainly on men, Feminist theory of crime on the other hand attempts to justify crime and the part of women in society. In the book Criminology Goes to the Movies: Crime Theory and Popular Culture by Nicole Rafter explains crime using multiple alternatives of feminist theory to explain how women in society consider crime based on the societal role of women. in the movie Thelma and Louise, it portrays the struggle of women, as the men in their world overwhelming show their power keeping both the main characters Thelma and Louise under control exhibiting dominance over them. The conflict
Mean Girls, set in Illinois, depicts the socio-political climate of an American high school, with it’s protagonist, Cady Heron moving from Africa and homeschooling to be socialised in her new society. The antagonist throughout the film, Regina George, is portrayed as an authoritarian woman who has total control of the school (Mean Girls 2004). Regina is shown to engage with numerous sexual partners at the same time and promotes her liberation through wearing a tee-shirt with her bra protruding out the front when she finds two holes cut at her breasts; motivating a new fashion trend throughout the cohort (Mean Girls 2004, Robinson-Cseke 2009, p. 45). This depiction of a strong, independent woman aligns with ‘Post-feminist texts-films, books, magazines and television programs characterised by a model of young womanhood that is empowered, successful, entitled, independent, socially mobile and free to choose her destiny’ (Toffoletti 2008, p. 72). Post feminism is further reflected in the film through the power change which occurs, transferring from Regina to Cady, mirroring the transfer of power from second wave feminism to post feminism.
The 1996 film Fargo by the Joel and Ethan Coen captivates the rare heroics of a pregnant female officer from Brainerd, Minnesota. The film’s depiction of female heroics is a proponent for empowering women in the film industry. We are always accustomed to seeing men as the primary focus and center of a film and women as the impotent secondary character. Films today should start portraying women as the strong primary character and, a character that’s inspires women to make difference like Marge Gunderson (Frances McDormand) did. Film is a societal changing platform and The Coen brothers use that to bring some parity in our male dominant society.
She is pushed into society 's expectations of women 's roles and the pressure to satisfy society rather than herself. Becky was rejected
The media has long been recognized as important source of gender related information, television and cinema specifically influences its audience in a considerable way. (Denmark and Paludi 2008). With regards to the concept of gender cinema can offer a space where ambiguities of identities are played out; understanding the play of the categories of femininity and masculinity is very important in evaluating our own understandings of gender and how we react to different representations of it (Tasker 2002).If a film can show different individuals and we can recognize how social forces shape and constrain the individual according to classifications of gender it narrates an experience where we experience the film as gendered viewers. Film reflects and generates out own experience of gender over and above out own recognition and observation of it. (Pomerance 2001).
The novel Pride and Prejudice can easily be picked apart through a feminist lens. The farther into the book one goes, the more there is to critique and analyze through a feminist lens. The book is about Elizabeth Bennet and her relationship with her eventual fiance Mr. Darcy, the ups and the downs of their relationship. Elizabeth was never a woman who only craved the attention and approval of men, she was her own person with her own complex emotions.