theist's blog

DreamPhone was a game from the early 90’s I’m embarrassed to say I spent a large amount of time around. However, I didn’t throw down my video-games or G.I. Joes to actively be around it, rather, having 2 cousins in their teens in the early to mid 90’s means I was subjected to more stereotypical board games than I want to admit.

In retrospect, I find Dreamphone(TM) offending to both sexes for the reasons of stereotyping. It provides a sort of channel through which all the 80’s and 90’s sitcom styled stereotypes could hold an unholy communion on your living room floor.

Dreamphone was a tabletop game that came with a pink plastic phone accessory. The phone had a set of prerecorded voices on it and your goal was to find out which one of the hunky boys on the other side of the phone liked you. You would hear hints which included their interests, favorite items, and ways to pass time. It was then up to you to determine which one of these dreamy beefcakes that looked like they were from Beverly Hills was your dream man.

I find it offensive to men because it casts men into shadowy stereotypes that needed associated images and icons to be known as legit. It also set up stereotypical representations of men.Trust me, there were no ugly men on the other end of that make believe phone. Only sweet talking extras from 90210. This sets up unrealistic expectations and throws any modesty in finding what makes people tick right out the window. It was essentially a stereotype matching game.

I also find that it is not ideal for women, because it attempts to tell women that these are desirable traits in a man and that you should want “X”, where x represents the hobby, pass time or looks of a given individual (and you win if they are all aligned correctly). It gives off the vibe to girls that this is what you should care about and these features are the most important in selecting a partner. Just disregard other things about the individual and focus on the bigger points like “Does Tommy look like he plays football? Does he look like fan of movies?”.

In a way, it can be forgiven because it was an old toy aimed at young girls and I find it hard to take seriously at all. However, when people makes claims about other facets of media brainwashing our youth to believe various ways of thinking, even the humble game can be seen as a tool to construct norms for people to follow. This is especially true in children, as they can be easily influenced.

As a young adult and tracing back to my childhood, I’ve been interested in comic books and graphic stories. Obviously my tastes have changed over time and the medium has experienced tremendous changes throughout the last 60 years or so. For blog 4, I have decided that I will provide some brief observations about both genders within the confines of this form of printed media. My focus will be on American made comics for this post.

Much like the “Tough Guise” notes on the bicep size of GI Joe, comics have had hyper masculinity isssues in the past. This is actually on a declining trend as the audience grows older and more and more fans want the stories of substance that have been provided recently as opposed to the late 80’s and 90’s explosion of steroid ridden super-soldiers. An example of this would be the Captain America of the 70’s compared to his 90’s counterparts. While the art styles varied over the years do to the artists working on any given product, you can still see the influence of the times in nearly any writers works.

Provided:

Captain America around the late 70’s. Note that he is athletic and muscular, but still within the realm of what is possible, even if slightly exaggerated.

Captain America in the 80’s-90’s. This is a good example of the muscle heavy popular culture of the 80’s and 90’s. When action stars and pro-wrestling were really hitting their stride. It is reflective of the culture at large and what they deem as wanting from a superhuman. Look at how exaggerated and over-sized the muscles and sizes are.

A much more recent, 2000’s era Captain America. Note how he is muscular, but he isn’t all veins and abs. He is defined, but also looks bulkier. I feel this is in comparison to the much more realistic proportions of todays mixed martial arts and the downward appeal of the ultra-macho steroid fueled Schwarzenegger wannabe.

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Women are also portrayed as reflections of popular culture in comics as well, I’m focusing on superhero comics here, so the inclusion of such things are Archies and romantic comedies are for another time. This means that women were originally depicted as week, meek, and subservient, with only the occasional depiction of a strong, resilient and heroic women until the creation and popularity of such hits as Wonder Woman came into being.
An interesting note is that Ms. Marvel was an attempt to help become appealing to the feminist movement through the inclusion of the Ms. in her name, supposedly meant to show that she is tied to no man and the tag line “This female fights back”. Obviously, this kind of shortsighted focus is an ideal example of the kind of struggles men writing and illustrating in a primarily male field had with relating to women and their social struggles.

Women were, and still are, constantly over-exaggerated and over-sexualized. This grew from the dresses and detail-less spandex suits similar to the style batman originally wore to the incredibly detailed style presented in modern media. While the comics have grown in style and detail in general as time progresses, it also correlates to the disbanding of rules claiming that people in mainstream comics should avoid sexualization and remain as “wholesome” as possible. So, it is my belief that growing acceptance of “riskier” looks, disregard for the comic code authority, and the enhancement of the art of the genre in general have caused the changes in the animation style of women.
Again, like the male depiction of heroes, they go through phases depending on what is popular at the time. The silver age (60’s and 70’s) saw someone like Catwoman in a dress, the 80’s and 90’s had larger breasts and an impossible hourglass shape, which coincides with the timeframe that Baywatch and Pamela Anderson were incredibly popular and the genetically modified porn star look was all the rage. Now, in the 2000’s, the outfits are more detailed, the stories are sexier and the restriction less imposing, but we see a movement towards leaner, lithe, and agile women who dress in costumes better suited to their stories. They look at the peak of fantasy styled health, but don’t fall into as much as a copy and paste mold as their predecessors.

Here are 3 examples from 3 different generations of Cat-woman.

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Women and men in comics are both meant to be in line with the superhuman and godlike visages of the ancient cultures. Compare statues of the overly muscular Greek gods to some of these, primarily older, character and you can see similar design traits. Even the spandex and bodysuits in my opinion help exagerate their superhuman and impossibly defined physiques in place of nudity. Men are large, muscular and powerful. Women are slender, defined, and meant to be modern day Athena’s. However, this trend of godliness is slowly giving way to a more modern, down to earth, and broad appeal. Comics are trying less and less to appeal solely to females with tacked on feminism, romance subplots, and social issues while men are becoming less ripped and more average and the stories for both genders are shifting to darker reflections of our modern society. While the individual artists can take liberties, It looks like superheroes of both genders start as stereotypes, grow into over-exaggeration, and then slim back down to the ebb of the times.

http://stuffwhitepeoplelike.com/

9/21/10

Stuff White People Like is a satirical blog-styled website that is credited as being a guide to white people. It provides an excellent sense of humor if you’re able to laugh at such things. The blogs creator has essentially compiled a list of things white people should and enjoy and why they enjoy doing it. Just a few off the front page include “The TED conference”, “The World Cup”, and “Picking Their Own Fruit”. These put a generally funny and satiric spin on the activities.

One such example is in the post about picking their own fruit, where it is noted that white people picking fruit is referred to as “berry picking” or “picking your own fruit”  but that “many of you” might be familiar with harvesting a crop as “migrant labor” or “slavery”.  It is also noted that it is enjoyed because white people enjoy watered down and expensive labor and “much like a liberal arts degree it feels like you’ve done real work when you really haven’t”.

This sort of satire I find refreshing, as it is white stereotypes being singled out and taken for a ride. No harm is intended, but it proves as a humorous role reversal when compared to white people being accused of being judgmental and labeling other colors with traits that may not fit them all. According to this site, most, if not all white people are liberal hipsters who want to reconnect with the world through looking “vintage” and attempting to pass off their “work” as real work.

Tommy Wiseau provides a classic cult movie in 2003’s “The Room”. The film, originally intended as a drama was so poorly executed that is was later re-released as a “black humor” film and has gained a dedicated fanbase.

The Room is essentially the tale of Johnny, played by Wiseau, his cheating partner Lisa, and their friend Mark. While the movie follows a loose plot long enough to get to a resolution over the cheating and what it has done, it introduces countless plot threads that lead nowhere or are quickly abandoned. The main plot line, however, provides an excellent opportunity to look at stereotyping of women, especially in the role of an antagonist.
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Lisa is played as nothing sort of an angry and easily upset conniving bitch. Her scenes either involve her manipulating Johnny, complaining about Johnny, cheating, or having sex (sometimes while cheating). While she initially complains that she has lost interest in Johnny, she is told to stay in the relationship by her own mother because he is very well off and provides quite a bit while admitting she goes man to man looking for stability and money. It is briefly  mentioned that Lisa works in the computer field and cannot find work at all. On screen; this translates to her usually being seen nowhere but the bedroom or living room lounging around.

When her female friend discovers her cheating and her love of Johnny’s best friend Mark, she helps hide it until the very end. Mark himself, is easily swayed into betraying his “best friend” and shows a general disinterest in Lisa after they’re together, although she calls him and comes off as clingy. As she takes jabs at Johnny, provides no information on why she doesn’t like him anymore outside of boredom and gets wonderful advice from her mother she still plans a surprise party for him.

At this party, she acts cold and then her and Mark confess in a way that makes them out to be better than him. Johnny fights Mark and then retreats to hide in the bathroom. Lisa calls Mark and talks about how she needs him and she goes to visit. While this is done, Johnny emerges, destroys the apartment, and upon finding his handgun shoots himself through the mouth. After his death, Mark and Lisa return and cry over his body. Lisa states that she still has Mark at least, and he tells her that she will never have him and that he doesn’t love her.

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This provides an interesting viewpoint of the generic seductress and comes off as insulting to women. Their is no doubt Lisa is intended to come off as bad, and she aims to hurt Johnny by seducing his best friend and never has any realistic reasoning behind her actions. She is also weak, and sometimes acts as though she is bipolar or has some sort of antisocial tendencies that are never mentioned within the movie. I’ll provide a few reasons on how she plays both a “weak” woman and comes across as “evil”;

1. She is clingy, as indicated by her affection for Mark.  She needs him and his attention at the end of the movie and as the film progresses. Though this may just be a ruse to manipulate him.
2. She is manipulative. She is told by the beacon of hope that is her mother that she needs to stay with Johnny because he is rich and provides for her, and it will only get better when they get married and easily convinces people to do things like leave the party.
3. She is unsympathetic/uncaring. After 7 years together, she shows no signs of remorse for what she is doing and she shows little to no concern for Johnny as the movie progresses. Only expressing concern over him after he has killed himself. her mother also mentions she has breast cancer and it is completely brushed aside so she can continue complaining about her boredom and desire to get another man.
4. She is unemployed. This is only referenced once, but she claims to be someone who works in the computer industry but is unemployed and completely dependent on Johnny’s money.

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Those are just a few excellent examples provided within the film. I view it as being insulting to feminists and humans in general. If you could make negative progress portraying women, even as a generic villain, this movie would be like throwing them back into the stone age. She has no clear goal or motivation and solely seeks the love of a different man while being as insulting and crass as she possibly can about it. focusing her energy and time solely on self satisfaction, everyone else be damned.

I have chosen to do a short review of what I’ve seen in the 2000’s television series “Dead Like Me”. The series is centered around a young woman named George (Georgia) who is killed one day by the toilet seat of the orbiting MIR satellite breaking into the Earth’s Atmosphere. After she dies, she has realized she cannot “pass on” and has become a Grim Reaper. Now she must team up with others like her and they must aide in the passing of individuals in ways such as touching them to separate their soul before they die in accidents.

The series has a surprising well varied cast of females and the acceptance of the character diversity makes it stand out as one of the less gender biased series I’ve seen thus far. Sure, there may be standard character archetypes such as the tough black woman and generic father-figure, but they are more character roles that have roots in their personality and past actions than being 2-dimensional stereotypes. What I mean is that they occasionally break out of these roles, rather than being defined by them. The “tough” woman has personal reasons for being stricter and more dark in her humor that links to her past in a meaningful way. It is a nice change when compared to the stereotypical cardboard cutouts in movies.

The main character, George, is a great stand out character and is not the typical submissive female role. She is sarcastic, comes off as very intelligent, and stands out. Before her death, she was seeking work under threat from her mother, and she is/was very passive aggressive and comes off as completely apathetic about her life heading no where. Her eventual death makes her realize her lost potential and kicks her (un)life up a notch. It’s a welcomed change to see a character that is bright, unassuming, and portrays the passive nature of today’s youth culture without coming off as negative or as a bore. It is also great that she doesn’t portray any real gender stereotypes. It was about evolution of her as a character, not as a role defined woman.