Hist2480
Tracy Penny Light
Oct 23, 2017
Reading Analysis Week 8
When growing up we are always taught about girls, their feeling, when they are bullied, how media affects them and so on. At least this is what I experienced in all of my classes, maybe it was because I was a girl and this was all I notice because it pertained to me. But it’s interesting to look at the boy’s perspective of all of those especially the male image in media. When watching movies, it seems as everyone notices how the female image is portrayed and what this does for women watching. But the focus this week was the male image.
In the articles “Masculinity as Spectacle,” and “Malefunction,” the main point is about the male image on screen. Now these were both a bit hard to understand and really grasp as many of the movies referenced I have never seen before and the authors seemed to almost expect you to know the movie. But what I got from it was that there are many ways people look at the male image, this could be how they relate to them or how they want to become more like them. In a way it seems as it’s the same for men as it is for women, we all know this image is not realistic but we still strive to be it. Also when it is brought up as a problem that they portray men like this and something is done to change it, this can make the movie unsuccessful because this isn’t what people want to see. Unfortunately, men are portrayed as manly and this is what people will see the male character as.
Although both articles were the same, the third article seemed to view this image in a different way. This is one that comes off the screen and people strive to be on Halloween, although it seems as if this image is dressed more sexually. Halloween costumes have been more of a problem as they are saying that these sexual images are ok to dress as and it is targeting younger children. But are these images still not from the screen? Most costumes come from characters so doesn’t this mean that this image of more sexual characters is coming from the screen making people still strive to be this sexy or manly person. This is what was focused on in the article, showing that this is a major issue that needs to be stopped. When will this problem be noticed by all as a problem, and when will there be an end to people striving to be an image that isn’t realistic for men or women, or anyone.
Bibliography
Neale, S., “Masculinity as Spectacle,” Screen, 24, 6 (1983) : 2-16.
Green, I., “Malefunction,” Screen, 25, 4-6 (1984): 36-48.
Katz, J., “Porn Chic, Gender Performance and Halloween Fashion,” The Blog, January 23, 2014, http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jackson-katz/porn-chic-gender-performance-and halloween- fashion_b_4159679.html