Sex Sells

Music plays an important role in many people’s lives, especially in adolescents.  There’s a broad range of music that can satisfy everyone’s tastes.  For example, those who like listening to sad love songs may be fans of country music, while others may enjoy classical music, salsa, rock, contemporary, and countless more.  On the other hand, some of the most common genres of music listened to today are known as hip hop, and rap.

The reason music can be so important to people is because it can be seen as an art or even a form of therapy.  Certain songs have the power to put us in a good mood when we’re down or vice versa.  There are different types of song we listen to depending on our attitude on a particular day.   Most of us have an iTunes playlist with thousands of our favorite tunes which we listen to any chance we get.  A study published in 2008 by Public Health Reports stated that adolescents listen to music for about 2.4 hours per day.  This number could have fairly increased  since most us of walk around with headphones and are able to download music straight to our phones.  Without realizing it though, many of the songs we love listening to have lyrics that describe women in derogatory which we fail to see due to the “catchiness” of the song. 

I never really put much thought into lyrics of rap songs or hip hop songs because I’m also one of those people who gets too caught up in the beat of the songs and neglect to focus on what the singers are actually saying. This past summer, that all changed when my friend Charlotte and I were listening to music on our way to the mall.  On one of the stations, “Blurred Lines” by Robin Thicke started playing and I immediately turned the volume up since it was one of my favorite songs.  It was a popular song during the summer as it placed number 1 on the Billboard’s Top 100 and remained popular months later.  Though most people I know like it, Charlotte made a comment about how the lyrics to this song really degraded women and asked if I had watched the music video.  I didn’t want to believe that a song so catchy and fun portrayed women in a negative way so I simply ignored her comment and changed the station.

When I finally got around to watching the video and reading the lyrics, I understood why Charlotte didn’t like the song.  To my surprise, my jaw dropped while I read lyrics like “Yeah, I had a bitch but she ain’t as bad as you” and “let me be the one you back that ass to.”  I could honestly say I don’t even remember hearing those lines while I listened to the song without the lyrics right in front of me. Additionally, there is an explicit version of the music video where the three women in the video are nude while Robin Thicke, T.I, and Pharrell Williams are suited up enjoying the girls being all over them.

This portrayal of women in pop-culture  has been a serious topic for decades when television channels like MTV and BET were airing popular songs and music videos that shared this image of women to the public. These were becoming widely common among the  youth which is why both channels still continue to have many viewers.  Sexism in music videos is, “dramatically presented in Jhally’s (1995) video “Dreamworld’s II, the Dreamworld being MTV’S focus on male, adolescent’s dreamworld of scantily-clad women fulfilling any number of sexual fantasies” (Gender Role in Youth Culture).   In 1995, many music videos came out portraying women in conventional ways with stereotypical gender roles such as being “obedient” and submissive to men and their desires while placing a great emphasis on their physical appearance.  During that time, “from the total 123 videos, 39 (31.7%) videos present women according to a traditional gender role”(Gender Role in Youth Culture).  This image of the conventional women appears in different ways in music videos.  In some, women are just used as props.  These types of music videos, “include women only insofar as they act as physical and sexual ornamentation” (Gender Role in Youth Culture).  Videos that are a prime example of this depiction of women include Ice Cube’s Bop Gun, Don’t Cry and Estragned by Gun’s and Roses, and many more.

Though those videos may have not caused much public controversy at the time, Robin Thicke’s “Blurred Lines” did get many people talking.  According to an article posted in the Huffington Post, many critics have said the song is, “not just disparaging to women, but could be seen as rape-y” (“Blurred Lines” Is A ‘Feminist Movement: Lyrics Got ‘Misconstrued’). Thicke’s comment on the issue when being interviewed at GQ headquarters did not make matters any better when he said, “What a pleasure it is to degrade women, I’ve never gotten to do that before.”  Though this comment followed with a laugh, there is nothing amusing about the degradation of women, nonetheless making fun of such a serious matter. Regardless of all this, the song still managed to have three VMA nominations, maintain its number one position on the Billboard charts for three weeks, and was used in a commercial advertising a new product for Beats by dre.

In general, most music videos for songs containing condescending lyrics are typically at a beach with girls in bikinis everywhere or at a club where girls are dressed in short dresses and miniskirts dancing provocatively usually to get men’s attention. I’ve watched a few like those in the past, but I’d look at them with a different perspective.  I’d wonder silly things like what the auditions are like when the only thing the women featured in those videos have to do is essentially just walk around half naked.  I’d also think about things like where the videos were shot, especially those at beautiful beach locations.  The last thing on my mind was the messages these videos were giving off to the public about women and how those images affect the minds of adolescents who watch them and see such a negative portrayal of women

An interesting study which was published by Public Health Reports focused on the sexual content in genres of music like hip hop, R&B, and rap.  The results of this study showed, “that different types of sexual content vary significantly by genre and suggests that those exposed to specific musical genres may be at increased risk for the sequel of early intercourse…because previous research has demonstrated an association between degrading sexual content and early sexual intercourse.” These results were interesting to me because these degrading songs not only disrespect women, but also spark this idea of sexual intercourse earlier than it should be.

For decades, pop-culture has revolved around this image of women as sexual objects and has remained popular because the public enjoys this type of music.  Though many of us love and listen to these types of songs on repeat, they have content that is very offending towards women.  However, artists and song editors do a good job at masking those lyrics with rhythms that are too catchy to want to click the “next” button on your radio or phone and “Blurred Lines” is one of those.  The catchy tunes of this song in particular steers us away from thinking twice about the lyrics and instead putting us in a lively mood.  Because of this, we lose the true message behind the songs.  This happened in my case when the tune of “Blurred Lines” always put me in a lively mood, preventing me from hearing the actual words being used until my friend Charlotte pointed it out.

An example of another song I recently heard that is disrespectful to women is “Better with the light off” by New Boyz, ft. Christ Brown.  At the beginning of the song, he describes how the girl he’s dating is beautiful and says she’s a “dime.” Later in the chorus, he says, “shorty I hope you don’t take this the wrong way but you look better with the lights off.”  How ironic is that? One moment he’s singing about a beautiful girl he’s with and the next he’s singing about how she looks better in the dark.

“Blurred Lines” was the song that opened my eyes to women being degraded in pop-culture. I realize now that it was never something I put much thought into.  Meanwhile, artists have continuously been gaining fame through songs and music videos that revolve around the perception of women as erotic and sexual beings that are there to fulfill men’s desires.  This is an inaccurate representation of women because it only focuses on their physical appearances and sexuality. We fail to recognize the extent to which artists use disrespectful words to describe women in their songs.  It’s important to think twice when listening to the number one songs on the Billboard Charts or the ones people are raving about which constantly play on the radio.  The catchiness of the tunes can get the best of us but looking past that and taking time to decipher the lyrics can bring awareness to the issue.  It’s not okay to simply sing along and promote lyrics that are hurting and demeaning women.  It is important to recognize the issue and say something about it, just like my friend Charlotte did.

Work Cited

Alexander, Susan. “THE GENDER ROLE PARADOX IN YOUTH CULTURE: AN ANALYSIS OF WOMEN IN MUSIC VIDEOS.” 13 (1999): 46-64. JSTOR. Michigan Sociological Association. Web. 12 Dec. 2013.

Boardman, Madeline. “Blurred Lines Is A ‘Feminist Movement: Lyrics Got “Misconstrued””Huffington Post. N.p., 31 July 2013. Web

A Reflection

A whole semester flew by and I cannot believe it’s already over.  This might be one of my last blog posts as I’m done with my “Writing the Mind” class.  I’m already headed to my second semester of college and as cliché as this may sound, it’s hard to believe how time really does fly.  

When I was a sophomore in high school, I remember one of my favorite English teachers talking to us about her experiences in her college English classes.  She told us that she always felt confident about her writing but when she got to college that all changed when she got a C- on her first paper.  This was her way of telling us that it’s okay to do bad at first because writing is all about improvement and progress the more you write.  Ever since then, I always pictured my writing class in college to be tedious, extremely, difficult, and boring.  “Writing the Mind”, to my surprise was neither of those things. 

During some of the classes I go to (especially morning classes) I’m looking at the clock waiting for it to be over. During “Writing the Mind” this didn’t happen because I found the lectures to be insightful and ones I actually learned a lot from without a the typical Powerpoint.  One of the first things my professor told us was that writing is an extension and reflection of the writer’s mind where there is a different relationship between the writer’s word and the mind.  I always saw writing as simply writing your thoughts in a way your teacher wanted you to. Throughout the semester though, I learned to reflect on what writing really meant and saw that it’s a lot more than simply following a set of teacher’s guidelines.  I learned the importance of writing to an established audience with a specific purpose and successfully getting your point across. 

During one I lecture I remember my professor telling us how each writer is different because our “voice” in our pieces is influenced by different factors that affect us personally like our own situations or responsibilities, etc. Although I was self-conscious about my writing prior to this class, knowing that made me feel more confident as a writer. Before an important writing assignment was due, my professor had us show our work to other students for insight and revision and though I hated doing that in high school, I was surprisingly willing and excited to let someone else read my work and get a different perspective on it.  I liked sharing my own unique thoughts as well as reading about other students’ pieces to see their interpretation of things.  I also grew more confident in my writing by applying fundamental concepts I learned in class such as establishing an audience and a purpose like I mentioned earlier, along with the importance of using forms of ethos pathos and logos which support and help shape the argument of each of my posts. 

Another aspect I thought was effective about this class was that our professor encouraged us to explore philosophical and psychological theories that we could connect to our writing.  I took a psychology class last semester but I can honestly say I don’t remember much of what I learned.  In this class we dug deeper into Freud’s and Jung’s psychological theories such as the Oedipus complex and the collective unconscious which I now will always remember.

This class helped me grow a lot as a writer and I’m thankful to Professor Read-Davidson for helping me to do this.  He gave me great insight on all my posts which gave me the opportunity to know the positive aspects of my writing as well as what I still have yet to improve. To those who read my blog, I really hope you enjoyed reading my posts just as much as I enjoyed writing them. 

I hope everyone enjoys the upcoming holidays! 

Blurred Lines

This past summer, my friend Charlotte and I were in car one day driving to the mall.  While she drove, the radio was playing and I turned up the volume when one of my favorite songs came on called “Blurred Lines” by Robin Thicke. She made a comment about how the lyrics to this song really degraded women and she didn’t want to listen anymore.  I didn’t put much thought into it because I loved the song.

Later that night, I searched the lyrics to the song and was surprised that I couldn’t even remember hearing half the lyrics even after the multiple times I’ve played it.  Artists in some cases like these do a good job at masking lyrics that are degrading towards women.

In our current pop-culture, women are seen and described as sexual objects.  I know many people enjoy listening to songs that portray women this way, including myself, without realizing the image it represents.  This image is one that negatively portrays the value of women.  The catchy tunes of this song in particular steers us away from thinking twice about the lyrics and instead putting us in a lively mood.  Because of this, we lose the true message behind the songs.

Artists have continuously gained fame through songs and music videos that revolve around the perception of women as  sexual objects.  Music videos typically consist of the artist sitting at a bar with a number of girls dressed in short, tight dresses all over him.  Robin Thickes’ “blurred lines” has an explicit version of the music video where the girls are completely nude.

Regardless of its lyrics and controversial music video, this song gained a tremendous amount of popularity.  It played constantly on various different radio stations and had three VMA nominations. In addition, beats by dre used “Blurred lines” in commercial advertising their new product.  It’s interesting how a famous company like beats even decided to use this song to their products when they are already loved by consumers.

You can find the link to commercial here

Society has become too accepting of the way women are portrayed in popular music videos and songs.   I personally would not want to be talked about the way women are described in this song.  Women are more than just their physical appearances but some songs fail to acknowledge that by only portraying them as sexual objects.

 

 

The Struggle for Power and The Collector

This blog of mine is going to be a literary analysis of a novel I recently read in class called The Collector.  Similarly to the movie Being John Malkovich, it left me both curious and disturbed.  This novel by John Fowles is one that poses many questions about society, social class, and love.   If you are someone who enjoys reading psychological thrillers, I would definitely recommend reading this book.

To understand this blog post a bit more, you can find a summary here.

In my analysis of this novel, I would like to dig deeper into the need for control and power struggle between the two characters, Clegg and Miranda.  It is clear throughout the novel that Clegg is not in the right state of mind. Examples of his mental instability are seen through Clegg’s platonic obsession for an art student named Miranda which leads him to eventually kidnap her and hold her captive in the cellar of a house he buys just for the both of them.  Clegg does not consider this an obsession but instead claims he truly loves her and believes abducting her is the only way she can truly get to know him.  His actions are far from normal.

According to Dr. Bochner, seeking power goes hand in hand with the need to overcome an inner feeling of powerlessness (The Power and Control Addiction).   In the beginning of The Collector, Clegg briefly describes his childhood as an orphan when his dad was killed and when his mother left him.  While living with his aunt he also experiences the death of his uncle whom he was fairly close to.  These series of events could have caused an emotional or mental trauma in Clegg which could have altered his way of thinking, leading him to do things out of the ordinary.

Later in the novel Clegg claims, “[he] knows [he] doesn’t have what it is girls look for” (Fowles 11).  Clegg is aware of particular flaws or characteristics he has which can make him seem unattractive to women. If girls in general would not want to date Clegg, he would not stand a chance trying to be with Miranda and he knows that.  These emotions are related to those of feeling powerless and worthless.   Feeling that way leads Clegg to take the extreme measures he does to “possess” the girl of his dreams rather than approach the situation in another way.

An article on the control theory stated that, “as long as human culture has existed, control has always meant some kind of power over man’s environment” (Control Theory). Before kidnapping Miranda, Clegg makes adjustments to the house preventing any forms of escape.  Throughout the book, he continues to take multiple precautions at his house to make sure Miranda is in complete isolation. “I used to go and sit in her room and work out what she could do to escape” (Fowles 23). He assures himself that he is in complete control of the house so that there are no unexpected surprises.  Knowing absolutely every way out of the house and having taken multiple precautions to make it impossible for Miranda to find a way out, Clegg feels more and more powerful over his environment.

Another theory that can be directly correlated to Clegg and his amount of power is the resource theory where, “power is based on who possesses the greatest socio-economic resources in marriage” (Control in Dating Relationships).  With the excessive amount of money he has, Clegg offers to buy Miranda anything she wants, ranging from her favorite types of books and music to specific foods and clothing.   He uses his money as a tool to make her happy.  Though Clegg and Miranda are not dating nor are married, Clegg in a sense believes they were in a relationship or would at least soon be in one.  He imagined their married life once she grew to accept and love him.  Regardless of her opposition to marriage though, this resource theory can be applied to them because Clegg did use his money to continue to hold power over her.  The only reason he could kidnap Miranda in the first place and keep her to himself is because he had the money to do so.

What is most interesting and bewildering about Clegg’s power over Miranda is that although he keeps her locked up, he still emphasizes his desire to make Miranda happy.  Clegg ignores the circumstances she is in which could prohibit her from ever being content.  His intentions in a sense were pure, not wanting to harm her or take advantage of her because according to him, “[Miranda] was not like some woman you don’t respect so you don’t care what you do, you respected her and you had to be very careful” (Fowles 36).  Additionally, he was too captivated by her beauty and was in awe of her and the fact that he finally had her in his possession.  Clegg saw Miranda as “perfect, “even when she did things considered ugly, like yawning or stretching, she made it seem pretty. The truth was she couldn’t do ugly things. She was too beautiful” (Fowles 48).

Though Clegg had to most apparent control over the situation due to circumstances, there was a clear struggle for power between the two.  Clegg thrives off the physical control he has over Miranda.  He is the only person she could see or talk to. By keeping her locked up in a cellar, he determined when she could eat, when she could shower, etc.  He is in control of every aspect of her life.  Miranda on the other hand struggles to gain control in a manipulative way which could potentially lead her to escape.

To Miranda, Clegg’s, “so slow, so unimaginative, so lifeless. He forces me to be changeable, to act, the hateful tyranny of weak people” (Fowles 120).  Sometimes she did succeed in fooling him.  Once Clegg began describing, “all those evenings [they] sat together and it [didn’t] seem possible that it will never be again. It was like we were the only two people in the world. No one will ever understand how happy we were” (Fowles 78). Clegg was oblivious to reality.  He could not accept that he would never have Miranda’s love.  Meanwhile, Miranda pretended that she would give him a shot if the circumstances were different. She thrived off putting on an act for Clegg in hopes that he would find it in himself to do a good thing and let her go.

Though Miranda can be seen as the helpless victim in the novel, she still tries to find ways to escape her nightmare. Her various attempts to escape angered Clegg, especially because he could not fully understand Miranda’s need to leave if he was giving her everything she wanted. To Clegg, “having her was enough” (Fowles 91). He claimed he was different because he did not take advantage of her like someone else in his situation would have.

His furiousness, however, could not last very long.  Clegg usually “gave in” to Miranda’s apologies and simply made sure that he would be even more pre-cautious to prevent her from leaving him.  His willingness to easily forgive her proves the underlying power Miranda did have over Clegg. In the novel, Miranda acknowledges, “The power of women! I’ve never felt so full of mysterious power. Men are a joke. We’re so weak physically, so helpless with things. Still, even today. But we’re stronger than they are. We can stand their cruelty. They can’t stand ours”(Fowles 194).

At one point, in of her many attempts to escape, Miranda decides to take a different approach.  She decides to try and seduce Clegg even though he made it clear that he did not desire her in sexual manner and resorted to only taking pictures of her.  During this scene, in the midst of Miranda’s attempt to seduce Clegg, he admits he is weak. He states, “I know I was weak.  I should have told her straight out not to be disgusting. I was very weak.  It was like I was drawn against my will” (Fowles 94).  At this point,

Psychological theories have been directly correlated to the idea of power and control.  One theory suggests that, “the need for power at times may interfere with the behaviors appropriate for the situation” (Randel 395).  For years he follows Miranda, learning everything he possibly could about her.  This helped Clegg know what kinds of clothes to buy her and would allow him to hold a conversation with her about her interests once she was in his possession.  Clegg neglects other ways he could get to know her like making an effort to meet her under normal circumstances and asking her to a cup of coffee or even lunch.  Instead, Clegg’s hungers for power makes him develop an intense plan to successfully kidnap Miranda and never let her escape.

Psychologist’s William T. Power theory on control known as, the Perceptual Control theory,“ views organisms as control systems that are acting to maintain perceived aspects of their environment in preselected (goal) states, protected from un-predictable (and often undetectable) disturbances; behavior is the control of perception” (Marken and Mansel 190).  Clegg’s ultimate goal is to make Miranda fall in love with him.  This desire of his is ironic because no one in their right mind would “woo” someone by kidnapping them and hoping that one day they will see them as anything else than a psychopath or a kidnapper. Clegg’s “wishful thinking” led him to believe that, “Gradually [Miranda] came to know [him] and like [him] and the dream grew into one about our living in a nice modern house, married, with kids and everything” (Fowles 55).

Clegg and Miranda both struggle to gain control of the situation.  While Clegg has control over Miranda physically, Miranda uses her underlying power to control Clegg by messing with his head.  As human beings, we all have the need to control our environment or specific circumstances.  Clegg’s obsession however, led him to misuse his power and hold Miranda under his possession to fulfill his impossible desires.

Work Cited

Bochner, Daniel A. “The Power and Control Addiction.” The Emotional Toolbox. N.p. Print

“Control Theory.” Encyclopedia Britannica.Encyclopedia Britannica Online Academic Edition.      Encyclopedia Britannica Inc., 2013. Web

“Ethics in John Fowles’s The Collector.(Critical Essay).” Notes on Contemporary Literature37.4        (2007): n. pag. Web.

Hneusheva, Christina. “Psychology in the Novels by John Fowles.” Academia. N.p., n.d. Web.

Laughlin, Rosemary M. “Faces of Power in the Novels of John Fowles.” Critique:        Studies in Modern Fiction 13 (n.d.): 71-88. Web.

Marken, Richard S., and Warren Mansell. “Perceptual Control as a Unifying Concept in            Psychology.” Review of General Psychology 17 (n.d.): 190-95. American Psychological          Association. Web.

McClleland, Kent. “Perceptual Control and Social Power.” Sociological Perspectives 37 (n.d.):           461-96. University of California Press. Web.

Randel, Amy E. “Need for Power, Collective Identity, and Political Skill: An Investigation in       Taiwan.” The Journal of Social Psychology 4 (2011): 395-98. Web.

Robertson, Ian H. “The Power Struggle of Relationships.” Psychology Today. N.p., 25 Nov.    2012. Web.

Stetes, Jan E. “Control in Dating Relationships.” Journal of Marriage and Family 55.3 (1993):            673-85. National Council on Family Relations. Web.

Tauber, Alfred I. “Freud’s Social Theory: Modernist and Postmodernist Revisions.” History of the Human Sciences 25.4 (n.d.): n. pag. SAGE Journals. 17 Sept. 2012. Web

Turner, John C. “European Journal of Social PsychologyVolume 35, Issue 1, Article First          Published Online: 4 JAN 2005.” European Journal of Social Psychology 35.1-22 (2005):        1-19. Wiley InterScience. Web. 18 Nov. 2013.

A Peek into My Mind…

Unlike many of my other blogs, this post won’t be an analysis of a reading or a movie I watched in my English class.  Instead, it will be about my dreams.  I think dreams are an interesting topic for many people who have participated in lucid dreaming or who believe in the significance of dreams.  When I was younger, I remember always having dreams about drowning or getting taken away from my family as I’m walking down the street or something.  This might partly be because I was always around my parents while they were watching the news to hear stories about children being kidnapped in parks or malls, etc. As I grew older though, my dreams started becoming more random and inconsistent and sometimes were based off things I was thinking about the previous day.

A few nights ago I dreamt that I was on the Chapman University campus.  Specifically at the piazza which is located between the library and Beckman hall. There is a fountain in the middle with various different places to sit.  I was there at night around 10pm. At night, the piazza is usually completely empty unless there is a special event taking place there.  In my dream though, it was surprisingly filled with students taking up all the seats, talking and eating.  Before going to the piazza, I was doing math homework in a classroom with my boyfriend’s roommate, Matt.  He had to work on a project so he started focusing on that which is why I decided to go. 

I looked around for a familiar face but couldn’t find one so I thought it would be best if I went to library.  Although I was surrounded by people, I was scared to walk a few feet to get to the library.  I called Matt to ask him to meet me and walk me there.  When he came, he was mad that I decided to bug him just so he could walk me from the piazza to the library.  I told him I was convinced there was a guy following me and I was scared.  As we started walking we both saw a man wearing a grey sweatshirt and a beanie who got up from where he was and started walking the opposite direction but constantly looking back at us.  He walked slowly and looked suspicious.  Matt then apologized for assuming I was over-exaggerating.

The strangest part of my dream is that Matt was the one there for me.  I barely talk to him and when I do its more of a “hi” and “bye.”  I’m curious as to why he was in the dream.  Digging further into the dream, I can identify the Jungian archetype of the “the Hero.”  Matt doesn’t necessarily physically fight off bad guys for me but he is my hero for being with me and intimidating the man watching me.

What doesn’t surprise me is what my dream was about because last year I did experience being followed on campus.  It was around 9pm and I was in a dress and heels because I was leaving my sorority meeting early.  It was sprinkling outside which made the situation even worse since the thought of trying to run away was impossible.  Luckily I got help from someone walking on campus who I pretended was my friend and everything turned out okay.

I think this dream reflects my unconscious fear of this happening again even though I haven’t thought about it much until I dreamt about it. I have been more careful when I walk around campus and always make sure there’s people around but there have been times where I’ve just walked to the library late at night with no one thinking that it can’t happen again. Maybe this dream is telling me that I should still be careful and always call someone if I’m going to be walking alone when it’s not necessarily safe.

A reflection on my Cinematic Inquiry Project

This post is going to be a reflection on my journey of unraveling theories of the mind behind the film Being John Malkovich.  I took a psychology class my Freshman year of college so I did start this project with a bit of background information on different psychologists and their theories, well the little I could remember at least.  I decided to begin my research with Freud’s theories of the mind and used them throughout my research. I liked this project because one discovery lead the next.  I would look for key words and arguments in the articles I chose and used those to expand my research.  It was more of an investigation in the sense that one clue lead to the next.

One of the hardest parts about this project was completely understanding the concepts.  I relied mostly on scholarly and journal articles with an overload of information and it was up to me to decide which parts of the theories were most relevant to my specific research.  Prezi helped put everything into the right perspective.  I’ve used it multiple times before and I love that it’s more appealing to watch than the typical Microsoft Powerpoint.  Although I did not necessarily reach a conclusion to both my questions, I was able to understand the two characters I focused on, Maxine and Lotte, in a more psychological perspective.  It was not an easy project but it did give me great insight into the reasons for bisexuality or homosexuality as well as our ability to attract others through Freud’s theory of narcissism.  If you haven’t already, you could refer back to prezi which is posted on my last post to learn more about my outcomes of this project.

Cinematic Inquiry Project

Hello everyone,

A couple weeks ago I watched Being John Malkovich in my English class.  After watching it, many questions came to mind.  Through further research, I wanted to find answers to the certain questions I had in mind involving homosexuality/bisexuality in the movie as well as the qualities one posses that attracts two different people of the opposite sexes.  You could have access to my findings through my prezi presentation.

 

 

 

 

Questions I have after watching Being John Malkovich

Usually my favorite genres of movies to watch are comedies and horror films.  Last week during my English class, we watched Being John Malkovich.  It was not the type of movie I would personally pick out on my own to watch for fun but nonetheless, was one of the strangest most puzzling movies I have ever seen.

My professor warned us the film would lead to much confusion and a number of questions that we’d be left with afterwards.  I honestly did not expect it to be as odd as he described but to my surprise it was even stranger than that.  Being John Malkovich has about three main characters that are each uniquely different.  From the beginning, I thought that Craig’s and Lotte’s relationship was strange.  They did not seem “into eachother” for lack of a better phrase.  I questioned why Lotte was in a relationship with Craig if she seemed to get more affection and joy from her animals than from him.  As the movie progressed, there was one shocking scene after another.  Maxine, Craig’s co-worker is a poised and confident woman who Craig felt attracted to instantly and later on becomes Lotte’s love as well.  Throughout the film, Craig, Lotte, and Maxine each fulfill their fantasies through Malkovich’s portal, which allows them to learn a bit more about themselves while leaving the audience in shock.

Maxine throughout the movie proved to be unlike the other two characters.  She knew who she was and was happy with herself.  However, she was also very greedy.  She claimed to have fallen in love with Lotte but did not prove her love when she decided to marry Craig who grew the power to control John Malkovich and fully become him through the portal.  Maxine was able to live the lifestyle she dreamed of, filled with glamorous clothing, fame, red carpet events, and a rich talented husband by her side.  Towards the end of the movie though, Maxine all of a sudden changes.  She willingly gives up her previous lifestyle to raise her daughter with Lotte.  I was confused as to why she did that.  She was never comfortable being affectionate towards Lotte unless she was in Malkovich’s body but in the end she was happily in a public with Lotte and her daughter.  Is it the fact that Maxine was bearing Lotte’s child that changed her?  Is motherhood powerful enough to do so?

I also question what it was about Maxine that made both Craig and Lotte fall madly in love with her.  How could Lotte never have known she was attracted to women until being in John Malkovich’s brain?  I assumed that at her age she would have lived long enough to have discovered her sexual preferences.   I do not understand many of aspects to this film but I hope to as I dig deeper into the psychological characteristics of the three individuals.

Pursuit of Happiness

Mr. Garcia,

I would like to thank you for contacting my office to request information on how to obtain legal immigration status in the United States of America. In order for you to fully understand the requirements needed to become a legal resident, I have enclosed the application form as well as multiple documents that outline these requirements.  If you believe that you meet any of these requirements please precede in filling out these forms. Once they are completed do not hesitate to contact my office to schedule an appointment.

During our telephone conversation, you informed me that in Bolivia you have a successful job working as an electronic engineer in the countries’ most prestigious mining company.  I was never able to ask you why you wanted to leave your prosperous life in Bolivia and come to a country were you would ultimately have to start over from scratch.  I want you to dwell on this question and ask yourself if this is what you truly want. Many of my clients are individuals who have grown up in impoverished towns and come to the United States seeking a better life.  Anything they find here is a better alternative to their jobs in their hometowns. Your case however is different. You are a successful professional holding a high-paying job. Coming to the United States may not be the best decision you could make.

The United States can be “the land of opportunities” for many but not necessarily for you, especially if you are too old to go through schooling here.  This country has commercialized the idea of the “pursuit of happiness,” when in reality most immigrants who come to the U.S are far from happy. Life here could only be considered “easy” if you were born into a wealthy family and can inherit a job position that has been passed on from one generation to another.  If that is not the case, you are required to go through schooling, get into college, and obtain a degree.  College students usually get the opportunity to intern at companies that give them a peak into their future as a college graduate.  Through interning, they get a sense of what they truly want to do when they graduate college.  Those are all the stages a U.S born citizen typically goes through to be able to accomplish their dreams and take advantage of the opportunities presented to them.

You have already done that in your county.  You have been able to gain your success through your hard work and it has obviously paid off.  Your decision to reside in the U.S means that most of the effort you put into getting where you are goes to waste as you start over.  Due to your position in the mining company, I come to the conclusion that you are well respected and looked up to by many people.  By working in the U.S, you will lose that respect.  This is because you would no longer hold the important position you did back home.  Here, you would be one of the many immigrants that comes to the U.S, working a minimum wage job, hoping to fulfill the “American dream.”

California in particular is not what you see in movies and on television.  What you usually see on the big screen are large palm trees down every street you drive by and shopping malls filled with customers constantly spending.  However, not everyone lives in a three-story house in Beverly Hills and drives a BMW.  Famous actors and singers are not at every street corner signing autographs or being followed by paparazzi.  California is not always a sunny happy place.  Behind the scenes, an average American wakes up at around 7am, goes to work for about an 8-hour shift (typically at an office), then goes home to his or her family.  Different from what most immigrants think, only a small percentage of this country is high class. Poverty exists in the United States just like in every other country.  You see homeless people holding up cardboard signs begging for money on many different streets or freeway exits.  Both wealth and poverty are visible.

It is just as hard for an immigrant to reach success in this country coming here without a degree as it is for one who does have an educational background.  I want to tell a little about my story so that you understand the struggles and hardships immigrants in your particular position face.  Both my parents were immigrants.  My mom is from Peru and my dad is from Iran. They came to California when they were in their early twenties.  Growing up my parents constantly told me that they wished they never left their countries. My mom worked in the Supreme Court in Peru and my father was the CEO of a successful company. Both my parents believed that the United States was the best place one could live. They came to the United States a few times as tourists and finally decided to make this country their permanent home.  Little did they know that the life of a tourist was completely different than the life of a U.S citizen.

My parents never achieved the success they had in their countries, even though they tried and worked harder than ever.  My dad was at the top of his class when he was in high school and is one of the smartest people I know.  When he got here, his degrees and his intelligence had no value. My mom experienced the same thing. They both worked ridiculous shifts from 4 am to 10 pm Monday through Saturday and were paid minimum wage.  They did this for years until their English improved and were able to get stable jobs.  Life when they got here was nothing like they imagined it would be.

I am telling you this hoping that you can realize that the “American Dream” has not been achieved by many immigrants hoping for it nor by Americans who have lived here their entire lives. Life in the United States is far from easy.  My advice to you is to reconsider your decision and not leave behind everything you have worked for because I cannot help but think you will regret it.

Letter from a Birmingham Jail

To those teenagers in high school who have not accepted the idea of equality and have tension among each other due to racial differences:

In 1963, Martin Luther King Jr. confronted the issues injustice and segregation existing in the U.S at the time in his Letter from a Birmingham Jail.

In the letter King Jr. mentions the essence of time.  A letter was sent to him from a “white brother in Texas” talked about freedom.  Freedom would come eventually but not as soon as King Jr. hoped for.  King was against this idea that “time can cure all ill” because he saw it as a misconception.  Doing something about what bothers you is what can actually solve something.  Not in a violent way but in a direct way.

Though Martin Luther King opposed the use of violence, his protests and speeches were not accepted right away.  They did not trigger compassion or understanding which would lead to immediate change.  Martin Luther King Jr. fought for five more years after this letter was written until he was shot.  They years that King Jr. stood in front of crowds of people, demanding nonviolent action and equality were hard but in the end he died before he could even see his dream come true.  A little after his death though, restaurants finally began taking down their “whites only” signs.  Public parks began letting children of both colors play amongst each other. It must have been very to accept this change but little by little society started to progress and so did their mentality towards African Americans.

Public schools in my area are known for bullying.  Once the lunch bell rang numerous fights broke up between Hispanic groups of guys against the Armenian groups of guys.  I never saw this firsthand since I attended a private school my whole life which is why it was so hard for me to accept that racism is still so prominent especially among young teenagers who should not be involved in this.  Taking a class about the social construction of differences last year in college and hearing students voice out their stories about their own recent experiences facing discrimination was mind-boggling to me.  Teens are bringing back the old ways of violence against kids their own age.

Maybe time does heal most wounds.  It took a long time for people to be accepting of African Americans but after many years it finally happened.  They were granted the freedom they should have never been deprived of in the first place.  You would think that discrimination no longer exists after seeing how far we’ve come since the 1960s.

How many more years need to go by for discrimination to come to a complete end? Will it ever?  Will there come a time where your classmate can go home happy and without scars or bruises? To purposely and physically hurt someone is a horrible thing to do.  Sadly you who inflicts this pain on a student who is not “one of your own” does not understand the emotional damage this can cause and worst than that, suicide Time can cure most troubles like getting over a break up or the loss of a loved one but who knows if there will ever be enough time to end injustice.