Wednesday, February 4, 2015
escaping from katniss
I really enjoyed reading both text talking about women's fairy tales and what they desire in life. This two articles describe women's personalities based on characters they've seen in Disney movies while they were very young and innocent. In the article “Escape from Wonderland”, the author Deborah Ross explains how Disney’s movies are the cause of the female imagination. For examples she used the movie, Alice in Wonderland, she describes how the character in the movie, Alice, stands up for herself through the adventures and conflicts she faces throughout the movie. While Alice grows up into adulthood, she learns to manage her surroundings, her size, how to stand up to herself in front of the queen (talking back). She basically describes on how the Disney movies show young girls to create a very different view of how adulthood might be instead of the “dull reality” of woman hood. However, in Noah Berlatsky article, he talks about how women can also be classified as being very girly or a tough and strong woman. He uses a very good example with Bella from Twilight and Katniss from the movie The hunger games. He describes Bella as a “passive character”, more as a weak, very girly, and just want to feel loved. Katniss, on the other hand in describes more as a “bad-ass”. In this article, the author ask if Bella and Katniss got into a fight, who would win the fight? Of course everyone would bet on Katniss because based on their characters in the movies, Bella would lose by all of her weaknesses, she is always need of her lovers, Jacob and Edward to come and rescue her. On the other hand, Katniss is always on her own, she responsible, athletic, focused and can take care of herself without any help from no one. This article describes how there can always be two kinds of girls, a very sensitive girly girl, or a very rough, tough and tomboyish girl. I truly believe this two article had some very strong point about women and their beliefs on womanhood.
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I disagreed with Noah Berlasky's article. She constantly defines Katniss' and Bella's characteristics under the scope of 2nd and 3rd generation feminists. Berlasky categorizes Bella as a third generation girly girl while Katniss is "the ideal second-wave feminist daughter." I like how at the end Barlesky noted how the characters shared desires for things they lacked, Katniss is butch but wants to live in peace while Bella has a quiet life but wants adventure. I find it unfair to say though that girl's have to choose between these two life styes, there is no middle ground. Meanwhile Deborah Ross' article depicts the catch 22 situation face by women in Alice in Wonderland. I see Ross' article to be extremely more thorough than Barlesky's. However I think Ross can get preachy about the struggles women face. She makes it clear that if Alice wants adventure she will be considered an outcast of society for being an adventure seeking woman. Meanwhile if Alice wants to live a quiet life she is deemed a failure to women's rights. I think there will always be consequences in our actions regardless of gender, and women shouldn't be hounded out this much for choosing how to live their life.
ReplyDeleteI disagree with the fact mentioned about there only being two types of girls. Yes, Noah describes Katniss as a tough woman, where as in Bella is a sensitive female whose only priority seems to be love. He asks a question as to who would win in a fight between Katniss and Bella. It is true that there are these types of women, soft versus tough, but they’re not the only types that exist. There are a lot of girls who don’t see themselves as any of those and to say that there can only be two isn’t fair. In Deborah Ross’s essay, she talks about Disney movies and how they shape imaginations and ideas for young girls and how they are being brainwashed to have particular idea of how they should expect their life to be. In some way that is true but there are also other factors that influence their ideas such as parents or friends, not just Disney movies. Though Deborah Ross’s interpretations of the movies are pretty accurate. Both articles bring up issues on how girls act and how they grow and I don't think a girl (or even a guy) should have so many labels and be judged for them and if they end up growing in a certain way that changes their ideas then so be it.
ReplyDeleteI thought the Barlesky article was asinine for the most part. The writing was clear on a sentence-by-sentence basis but I felt like his central point or purpose was all over the place throughout the article. First he's talking about the characters, then critical reception of those characters, then feminism and how it relates to the masculine/feminine qualities of the characters, etc. He never really settles on an issue and drives it home and instead jumps around making a collection of individually weak arguments and observations. I kept waiting for him to explain why he was writing all this or why the hell this had anything to do with reality TV or feminism or why, in the last few paragraphs, he basically goes back on half of what he has said throughout the article. Very poorly constructed overall. He then has some terrible points about women either being the “butch ideal” or a weak, helpless little girl. He almost explicitly states that these are the only two ways for women to be... His points at the end make next to no sense and do nothing to add to the article. He weakens his own argument by talking about how both characters reverse their roles in the end and how that somehow defines and sets an absolute precedent for women- “Butch” girls want life one way, “girly girls” want life the opposite. And how Katniss is now somehow the passive character, which the author stated was Bella at the start?? It's unintelligent and it's offensively poor analysis of a potentially interesting topic.
ReplyDeleteBoth Deborah Ross and Noah Berlatsky try and qualify women into classes, this is exactly the type of feminine stereotyping which they both are depicting in their passages themselves. Thus, I disagree with both authors on numerous levels. First, Deborah Ross in "Escape from Wonderland" says that fairy tales are a crucial framework in turning the minds of girls into women with understanding. She says that The Little Mermaid represents feminine self sacrifice, yet most young girls don't see it as this. I find it difficult to understand that elder men and women would critique these movies and say what they THINK girls are getting out of these fairy tales. Ross did say that she did indeed watch many of these movies as a child, but from a female perspective as they watched as a young child I personally didn't pull any of the aspects out of The Little Mermaid that she did. Specifically she states that Ariel flees possibility in order to settle into marriage with Eric. The other viewpoint on her life could be someone, (like many individuals in American society) who isn't happy with her current living situation, and instead of settling and being placid with her life, she decides to go after her dreams. She finds a way to fulfill what she truly wants, a way to be on land. The moral I pull from this is that you shouldn't ever settle with anything but what you want, and sometimes sacrifices need to be made in order to get to where you want to be but its all apart of the game of life. Ross says that Alice in Alice in Wonderland desires order and direction, and while I agree that it is important to find that order, its also about finding the magic and "wonder" in the world around you. In this way we learn to stay young while finding direction as we grow up. Lastly in her example of Beauty and the Beast, she explains that all girls are just wishing for someone to understand them, as per what Belle sings about in the opening scene of the movie. This is true, yet some could care less about if people understand them, they are more inclined to go their own way and "forget the haters" so to speak. In the second article by Noah Berlatsky he depicts two polar opposite characters Bella from Twilight and Katniss from The Hunger Games. He essentially glorifies Katniss and sheds negative light on Bella. These two characters can also be seen opposite of his descriptions of them. Bella, who is claimed to be "sexually driven, accident prone, gets knocked up and doesn't go to college" can also be seen as HUMAN (until book 4). She has overcome raising her mother practically, moving to a place she never knew, she chose to be the bigger woman and keep her baby even though it ALMSOT KILLED HER. Moreover, her sexual drive is irrelevant and feminizing due to the fact that it implies women don't have sexual desires, even though their desires rival their male counterparts. Katniss, who is put on a pedestal to be a fighter, competent, and sexually restricted, is also socially awkward, rebellious, un-family oriented, and doesn't know how to be with a man.
ReplyDeleteIn light of all of this, stereotypes are a set back in society, because women and men can have all different personalities and desires. Who is to say that they should define desires by attitude analyzation. The fact that these authors chose to investigate and pinpoint their stereotypes without stating both sides of the individual is hypocritical to their mutual ideas.
I would have to say that I agree with parts of both articles. In “Twilight vs. Hunger Games” Berlatsky makes good points. He gives the reader a clear perception of how one my interpret Bella’s character and Katniss’s character. In twilight it is very true the Bella is the definition of a damsel in distress. She is clumsy, weak and fragile like it was mentioned in the article, but she is looking for danger and adventure. On the other hand Katniss lives in danger and adventure in her everyday life. She does not show it much, but she has her own desires. To be loved and to be in love. She is strong, because she has to be. She had no other choice or her family would not have survived. I disagree with idea that these are the only ways women should or can be portrayed. As a women myself I see characteristics of both women in myself, and I am perfectly fine with that. As for the Ross’s “Disney and the Female Imagination” I would say she was very descriptive in her analysis of the Disney movies. I would agree to a certain extent that Disney does give off a fantasy type world, but it is very distinguishable from reality. I myself have seen all the movies Ross listed time and time again. It did give me the feeling of a perfect life, but even at a young age I knew it was fantasy. It’s very normal for someone to not be happy with their life, and for someone to want to just “get away”. I think that Ross analyzed these movies in too much of a literal sense.
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