Extra Credit blog

I was having a hard time thinking of something to critique, so I decided to analyze a fairly recent song by the Lonely Island called "We Like Sportz". Although this music video is a parody, it still points out certain messages about gender. First off, the whole video is about 2 guys who like sports, which is a leisure/spectator activity stereotypically enjoyed by males. They are shown to be intimidating egomaniacs which can be seen by hard looks, face paint, and sports jerseys. Just as men are so often portrayed to do, the two males in the video eat junk food, drink, smoke, and don't enjoy watching sports with women, claiming that the females "don't know all the rules". Aside from not letting women watch sports with them, they don't like to watch with their friend Steve, whom they claim talks too much, which is stereotypical of women. They constantly claim that they are real men and talk about getting into fights, shooting guns, and challenging other people on the court with overstated bravado. Although the video is meant to be funny, which I believe it is, there are several statements about gender which the video pokes fun at which are at least partially true today.

makeup blog for week 11

I decided to critique an episode of South Park that aired for the first time last week. The episode compares the act of men farting with the act of women queefing. Through most of the episode, all males vehemently opposed women queefing, claiming that it was gross and that "That's where babies come from!". The women honestly didn't see what the big deal was about because the men farted all the time and it was funny, and to the women, this was their equivalent. The women were annoyed with the men farting all of the time and didn't understand why farting was funny. So to retaliate, the women started queefing frequently, including on Butters' face, sending him to the hospital for trauma. Even on the Canadian television station, once dominated by Terrance and Phillip, known for their numerous fart jokes, queefs overtook farts as funny material as the Queef Sisters soon replaced Terrance and Phillip. The fact that the "sisters" dominated the television and the women in this episode took such widespread actions presents two statements about women. The executive producer of the station told Terrance and Phillip that the "sisters" took over the airwaves because they appealed more to the station's audience. Since all of the men found the queefs unbearably disgusting, it is safe to assume that the intended audience was women, showing that the woman's place is in the home as traditionally believed. However, the act of the women queefing shows women empowerment and a way of getting back at the men. About halfway through the episode, the men make it illegal for the women to queef, and they are all very sad and claimed that they "just wanted to have a little fun for once". Feeling remorse, the men allowed the women to queef, as shown in the above clip, establishing a kind of equality in the realm of gaseous expulsions. The clip shows a lot of heroic women and states that women went through a lot of hardship. Although the clip shows equality between the men and women, it still stands true that the men gave this equality to the women, illustrating the patriarchy that remains.

Extra, Extra! Read All About It!

This week I critiqued the Raisin Bran Extra commercial. The ad depicts several men camping out in front of a grocery store eagerly waiting for the new cereal to arrive. Once the cereal is forklifted in, a random woman casually walks inside the store, wondering what the men are doing outside of the store. Finally, the men realize that the store they are camped out in front of is always open, and they rush inside. The ways the men are dressed and all of the accessories accompanying them while camped out in front of the store are indicative of the oversized male ego, and is similar to how men dress on days which major sporting events are taking place, which is a male stereotype in itself. The act of the woman plainly walking into the store while the men are camped out front shows the woman as strong and intelligent, and even though the men were there first, their stupidity caused them to miss out on what they wanted most: to be the first to enjoy the delicious new cereal. The single man whining and banging on the glass shows him as a sore loser and emphasizes the need of the male to always be first, especially when it comes to women. Finally the men rushing inside the store regardless of the fact of their loss shows the men as gluttonous, as they stereotypically enjoy food much more than women and don't care nearly as much about their weight as women do. This can also be seen in the size of the men in the commercial.

South Park and women

This week I was at a lack of new commercials to critique, so I decided to critique the first episode of South Park's thirteenth season which first aired two Wednesday nights ago. There are several episodes which don't view women in a good way, but this episode is the latest and most blatant. The episode opens with Kenny's girlfriend being called such things as "slut" and "notorious whore". Such talk acknowledges and promotes that there is a double standard with regard to sex; men who have sex are cool, and women who have sex are sluts. This can also be seen with Kenny's reaction when he is told his girlfriend is a slut. He becomes overjoyed, and this once again shows the double standard because he wants to be cool, and if his girlfriend is willing as he is led to believe, he can achieve that status. Also, it brings to light that men think with their jeans, which is a common stereotype. In one scene Kenny even goes to the store to buy condoms, and the shopkeeper sells them to him without question. This shows that young males having sex is more acceptable to the public. The next scene is at the Jonas Brothers concert where all the girls start to go crazy and they say they get "tingly". This shows that females are more easily aroused and willing to give themselves. After the concert several girls are asked to go backstage. The girls are given purity rings by the Jonas Brothers and agree to wear them because of the masculine willpower they have over the girls, showing male dominance. However, this episode shows that girls are ones in charge in relationships. Kenny wears a purity ring because his girlfriend wants him to, and everything they do is determined by her, including going to T.G.I. Fridays. This episode shows men as the exploiter, in the form of Mickey Mouse, who uses the Jonas Brothers to make money off of the Christians and little girls by "selling sex to them". It is bluntly stated in the episode that girls are stupid, stating that men are the more intelligent gender, and that girls are dirty and disease-ridden, which further puts salt on the wounds of girls affected by the double standard.

Shamwow: I'll be saying "wow" everytime this commercial shows a traditional gender role

This week, I decided to critique a commercial most of us have seen and like to joke. I am of course talking about the Shamwow commercial, second in ridicule only to Billy Mays. The Shamwow commercial is mostly directed toward women because it is a cleaning material. This can be seen by how many more women appear in the commercial than men do. Also, whenever, women are shown in the commercial, they are seen in a traditional gender role. Women are seen cleaning the kitchen floor and counter, dishes, clothes, and the shower walls. Women are traditionally viewed as the homemaker that completes all of these tasks. In addition, when Vince mentions that you can clean it in the washer, a woman is seen placing the shammy in a washing machine, reinforcing the thought that it is women's job to clean clothes. Whenever men are shown in the commercial, they are either cleaning vehicles outside or testifying that the Shamwow is perfect for such activities. The rest of the testimonials on behalf of Shamwow were made by women, showing that either more women use them or that the male testimonials were cut to focus on the maker's intended audience. Amongst all of this, the person advertising this fine product is a male, showing that males have dominance over females, as was read in Beauty and the Patriarchal Beast, and that women will listen to him and buy the Shamwow. In short, there is not even the slightest snippet of this commercial that strays from traditional gender roles, and the gender ideological ideas that accompany them.

"Men should act like men"

This week, I figured I would critique my favorite Milwaukee's Best Light commercial. This commercial obviously states that men should act in a completely masculine matter. Men that don't act masculine in all of the commercials are immediately taken out of the commercials by having a huge can of beer from the heavens crush them into the ground. Whether by calling his wife during a poker game to check in or by executing an extremely girly jump on a trampoline, these "men" quickly become victims of gravity and what it carries down--a huge can of beer. These commercials are definitely aimed at men. Milwaukee's Best, or "Beast" as it is commonly referred to, is a particularly harsh and manly beer that most women won't touch. It is brewed for men, and this can be seen in the commercials by the lack of women. The only times women appear in the commercial are when they are walking by looking very attractive or when they are emphasizing a "man's" femininity, such as when a man and his wife go to a cookout wearing matching shirts and swinging their arms gleefully. The slogan of "Beast" is that "Men should act like men, and light beer should taste like beer." Not only does this slogan dictate how men should behave, but it also makes the statement that real beer is harsh, and this harshness should be the taste that real, tough men should prefer.

"Eat like a Man!"

The point of this commercial is to get across to men who like to eat real meals that although the Hungry Man meals are convenient and easy to make, they are never lacking in quantity or quality of food. This commercial makes the statement that real men eat a lot, don't care about their weight, and eat what have been designated as manly foods such as beef or chicken. The man eating the Hungry Man meal in the commercial appears proud and confident, two characteristics of what our society would call real men. He also questions the other males' masculinity by calling them ladies. This is for two reasons. He calls them ladies because they are all going to the bathroom even though not all of them have to "go", much as females stereotypically do, and because they are drinking what appear to be small, low-calorie fruit-flavored smoothies, which is a very girly meal when compared to the huge manly amount of food in a Hungry Man meal. Women don't typically eat big meals or manly food because those things can make them gain weight, which is a huge feminine concern. The commercial beckons us to "eat like a man" and to "be full like a man." This tells us that real men indulge into what satisfies them and that they don't worry about such trite issues.