Class Notes: Manhood Puzzle

I decided that for the last five weeks of my current class, I was going to post notes from one or two articles/ readings a week. Why? I can hear the questions... well mostly because my note taking is like diving into a pile of narratives, with a guide. Don't believe me? See for yourselves, also maybe learn something new or enjoyable on the way....

The Manhood Puzzle (NOTES by Lesley) by David D. Gilmore 

• boys tested or indoctrinated before being awarded their manhood 



• Swing Kids: HJ indoctrinated. 




• All societies have male vs. female labels, few have a third - androgynous label but even the third have to make a life choice 




• House Episode: Born with both sexes, parents made choice 



• Most societies have an ideal for each sex, a psychic anchor used for individual perception and self esteem



• Think Super Models, and sports figures  



• Marlboro Man 



• There is a social science attitude that there are standard almost universal ideas and concepts ascribed to Men & Women 
• Gilmore is concerned with the Manhood universal



• That boys must attain a manhood, against odds because manhood is not a biological state that is grown into but an object that must be attained. 
• This concept is found everywhere, in all types of societies



• Interestingly women do not fight the same standard, their biological state as women is not tested. 


• On that note: Women who are deviant, usually called "unladylike" but their very gender role is not questioned. 


• Notice that when men were called out for their gender role - called equivalent of being female/ women like.



• Does point out that Women seek "femininity" to achieve social standing, but rarely involves a test or proofs with action 


• Not entire sure that I concur with this idea, it might be considered that women have a different type of test that is socially understood in a different manner. 



• Coming of Age for a female might be constructed in having to accept a husband, or learning how to do certain things. Might not it be considered that women are also pushed to grow into their gender role much earlier. 

• TESTS of MANHOOD a SURVEY 




• Turk Island, South Pacific 


• Avid fisherman, casting and diving in deep waters  
• Men encourage to take risks with their life, limbs 
• Think "manly" thoughts 



• Go on dangerous hunts in tiny boats, with shark infested waters. If don't go mocked for effeminate nature 
• On island weekends, boys go out to get into fights, drink and find sexual conquests. 



• Love in the Time of Cholera (Thinking of main character young Ariza, or even Becoming Jane (though focus on James Avery character, not Jane) 



• East Africa, tribes: Masai, Rendille, Jie and Samburu 


• Boys taken from mothers at birth 
• Circumcision at brink of adolescence, cannot cry out or even flinch during public ceremony


• if they do flinch, they are shamed - as is their entire lineage  
• after the process, if successful, taken out to the woods and taught the ways of manhood 
• Only after, are they considered men and allowed to take a wife. 



• Ethiopia: Amhara 


• wandant (passionate term for manhood) includes aggressiveness, stamina, courageous face in danger, never backing down to a threat. 
• young men forced into whipping contests, to prove their wand-ant 
• also to prove virility scar arms with hot embers.  
• aside from these proofs, a young man must on his wedding night wave a bloodied sheet of martial consummation to kinsmen 
• performances on battlefield and wedding bed, both must be proved. 



• Oddly what comes to mind is For Water, For Chocolate, which is a novel about a woman... but the same ideas come to mind. 



• New Guinea Highlands 



• boys torn from their mothers to forego brutal masculine rituals 



• include whipping, flailing, and terrorizing from older men 
• insist that men are made, not born 
• Parallels 



• These cultures once warrior types, rites of passage preparing for a idealized warrior lifestyle




• but not confined to militaristic societies only. 



• Bushman of Southwest Africa


• peaceful people, not violent 
• boys must track and kill full size antelope, before considered men and permitted to marry 
• Pueblo Indians: New Mexico 


• peaceful as well  
• between 12-15, taken to be purified and beaten by spirits (father's in disguise) 
• Must be made a man 


• note that women might have rites but not to make them a woman, that's a natural state that develops
• Not just primitive cultures - modern urban cultures too 



• machos of latin American cultures 
• manhood is  not mere maleness, it must be proved throughout cultures 



• England 



• boys taken at a young age to boarding schools, where the social grounds provided for a trail of becoming a man through being terrorized by older boys. 



• U.S. 



• boy scouts - making big men out of little boys



• Even Christ used to promote manhood  (at turn of century) 


• athletic, aggressive when necessary
• boys, faith, and gods had to be made masculine or there was doubt.  
• Bildungsroman - a strain of US literature, the ascension to the exalted status of manhood under guidance from elders (failure always a far off option).  


• See Hemingway, Norman Mailer



• Heroic image of achieved manhood being questioned in America, or is it?


• Images of Rambo, Hollywood westerners, gangs, etc. 
• Think about the selling of products to younger boys - 


• J.K Rowling, published her books under J.K. and not Joann because her publisher feared that boys would not read a story about a boy written by a woman 
• The recent trailer for Disney movie Tangled (originally Rapunzel) had its name changed, and the focus of the trailer is on the adventuring Finn (male main character) and not on the princess.... 

• Manhood and Gender Role 


• Frued - anatomy was destiny 
• Jung - developed universal features of "animus" and "anima" core of sexual identity 
• dualism in western philosophy and literature 



• men seek aggression because of their naturally aggressive
• Feminist revolution caused gender roles understanding to change 


• though even Frued and Jung recognized that each individual could have male and female traits within the person 
• sex (biological), gender (social) 
• Gender is a symbolic category 


• ascriptive and culturally relative 
• Sex rooted in anatomy


• constant 
• manhood affected by culture. 
• Previous Interpretations  


• masculine ideology justification for oppression of women (Marxist) 



• not true for societies were gender equality exist 
• Men worry about manhood because evolutionary predisposed to (reductionist #1) 



• again not all societies dependent on warrior/hunter societies
• Men everywhere defending against castration (reductionist #2) 
• Some Help from the Post-Freudians 


• all infants have a primary identity distinct from femininity, all children go through same trails at the beginning. 


• Boys must separate from mother - causing their lost of selves 
• While girl can remain close to mother- because that reinforces their roles. 


• post-freudians mens defense against the eternal child - not at being female-like but rather at being boyish. 
• Think One Fine Day.... the end of the trailer here in particular!
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  Hope you enjoy the videos! Not as much commentary for this one as I thought, but still interesting concepts !
  
  
  
  

Dancing Mops Premise?

A year ago when I read that Nicholas Cage was making a movie called the Sorcerer's Apprentice, I decided I wasn't interested. About the same time when I saw some of the props for the movie at D23, I was slightly doubting my rash decision of disinterest. Then a few months past where I was too excited about movies like New Moon, Sherlock Holmes, Princess and the Frog, Percy Jackson and so many others. I didn't think about the Sorcerer's Apprentice again until about three weeks ago when I saw a trailer for it. Suddenly, I was much more interested.

Trailers tend to do that to me, the short well-crafted three minute or less story sucks me in like gullible child. Though I am fully aware that 75% of the time, the trailer is just the best parts of the movie: the most exciting, the funniest lines, the wittiest dialogue and so on. I have a slight theory though that if a movie trailer can engage me in the overall plot, or emotionally connect me to a character in three minutes the likelihood that the movie will be able to do it too in 120 minutes is high. So the first time I saw the trailer I was suddenly more intrigued than I had been before. A movie slightly based on the sorcerer's apprentice short with mickey mouse in Fantasia might not be terrible after all. There is magic and by the looks of the three minute trailer awesome special effects. The one scene with the old car flipping through a water mirror and turning into a fancy sports car, that was almost enough to make me want to see what other kind of magic there would be. Every time I saw the trailer, my desire to see the movie increased until finally I knew I would be seeing it.

So last night, in search of adventure I ended up at a movie theater for the midnight showing of Sorcerer's Apprentice. It wasn't a busy midnight, honestly it reminded me of my days working at a movie theater when the employees would get together for a private screening. It was nice, to have an entire row to ourselves for the movie. The movie started in the past, setting up the foundation for the entire story beginning with Merlin and Morgana. End backstory and the audience is being introduced to the main character and his storyline, and yes that is the very thought I had as the opening credits started and the film transported us from 740 Britian to 2000 New York City. I don't want to give too much away about the movie itself becuase it already follows a rather predictable storyline so I leave it with the little surprises it might have. But I do want to talk about the magic of the movie itself.

Movie magic, in this case, means a few things. Firstly and naturally so, the special effects of the actual magic. I was in love with it, in awe with my suspensed disbelief, of sorcerer's being stuck in mirror worlds and others sinking into quick sand rugs. Something like a little silver dragon moving around with life, doesn't even seem that strange to me anymore. I blame Harry Potter, but I expect and anticapate the movement of inanimate objects and I believe it. Partially because it looks real, watch something like Harry Potter or even the Sorcerer's Apprentice and tell me if you don't believe that the dragon is moving on its own. Stop thinking about how you know its fake and a series of special effects that makes it happen, becuase honestly you are probably not really thinking about that until after the movie is over. When you're watching it, you accept it not just because you knew it was going to happen in a movie about magic but because it LOOKS real.

The secondary movie magic that I want to talk about is the elements of music in the movie and creation of memorable scenes. There isn't tons of music in Sorcerer's Apprentice, but the music that is used is just perfectly fit into the scenes. The purpose of music to a story is to increase it's emotional bond to its audience, to give more life to the narrative itself and it was achieved. Memorable scenes, though a few could be named, it would actually be the dancing mops scene that the movie was actually based on. Or at least what I thought the movie was based on. There was the classic music, the leaving of the master and the complete screw up of the apprentice while the mops were dancing about and it made me and friends giddy. The power of nostaglia should never be underestimated, it evokes emotional ties for everyone involved. Dancing mops and music by Paul Dukas brings up ties to either the animated version with Mickey Mouse, or maybe to the epic water show on the rivers of America (Fantasmatic anyone?) or a variety of other things. Every time I even hear the song I want to start waving my arms around like a conductor, so that's an engaging piece of music. Even if just the delight of this one scene, I would suggest everyone go see the movie.

But it's not just about the special effects or the memorable scene. Sorcerer's Apprentice proved to be light hearted and enjoyable, everything that I wanted it to be as a summer blockbuster type. It makes you laugh out loud and root for the good guys. One of my fellow adventurer's even went so far as to suggest it would be he's new inspiration movie because of the awesome magical ideas. So if you're looking for a magical fun adventure, this is your movie.

In 11 years you grow UP

I know that you're leaving 

You must have your reasons 

The seasons are calling...  

The steps that I retrace, 

the sad look on your face... 

And its happen once again, 

I'll turn to a friend

Someone that understands 

That sees through the master plan 

But everybody's gone  

And I've been here for too long 

to face this on my own... 

Well I guess this is growing up. 

- Blink 182: Damn It 

Blink has been with my for years, their songs have resonated through several moments in my life. But never once did I really think that this song would go hand in hand with what I felt about a Disney movie, but it did. Honestly I had forgotten that this song even existed, until about a month ago when a college graduating friend sang it acoustically on a ukulele during her own party. Yes, no joke on a ukulele. Since then I realized the words of the song were much more powerful today, in these moments of life than they were years ago when this song first was released. Damn It was actually Blink 182's first real success and hit single hitting the charts in 1997, when I had no idea the lyrics would ring true outside of the fictional break up that was being sung about. 

I was listening to the song again on Sunday morning of this week, three days after seeing the midnight showing of Toy Story 3 and the lyrics reminded me of the movie. Toy Story was released in 1995 just two years before this song became a commercial success, and Toy Story 2 hit theaters in 1999 just two years after. So it seems that Toy Story (and basically Pixar) have been in my life as long as Blink 182 has and it seems fitting that for this latest installment I relate the old song. Of course I adored the newest Toy Story as I always knew I would (though there was that scare there when Disney was trying to do the movie without the Pixar peeps). From the moment I saw the extended scene at D23 with the home videos of Andy playing with that awesome Space Cadet and lovable Cowboy I knew this movie was going to be a bundle of emotion. I was never disappointed.  

Its been 11 years since the last Toy Story film and the audience grew up just like Andy did. The setting has changed, the story has grown but our old toys are still waiting to tell their story. It was just as captivating, funny and impressive as the first. I couldn't help but wonder if the young boys behind me (one in his cowboy suit and hat) were as impressed by the movie as I was. I mean at a whole six years old those boys didn't know that back in my day, cartoons didn't look like the well crafted 3-D wonders they do today. Pixar's Toy Story was to my generation what Snow White was to the generations before, a moment when story telling was taken to a new and unbelievable level. The incredible feat though is that even after 15 years, I'm still impressed by Pixar. Each movie brings something new to the table, the colors, the details, the maginficant backdrops have even brought tears to my eyes (I know, I know, dork). I don't want to give to much away about the story but I do warn anyone over the age of 15, all my adult friends that you might tear up a few times. The themes in the life of Andy, in the life of the toys is parrallel to our lives and growing up is easy when you don't have to think about. 

You are going to laugh. You are going to cry. You are going to have your breath taken away. Because this is the stuff that our dreams were made of, and don't lie you all thought one day that your toys were having meetings when you weren't in the room. Those 11 years were well worth the wait, because this is a great ending to a love saga we've had with Woody, Buzz and the rest of the gang. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go watch Toy Story 2 again.