XOXO, unrealistic portrayal of High School students

Recently, as I was watching Gossip Girl, I found two things that related to what we talked about this week in class. Yes, for once, Gossip Girl has helped me instead of distracting me!!!! Yay!!!  In class, we talked about the Preface of The Bluest Eye which surprisingly related to Gossip Girl.  In The Bluest Eye, the author purposely made one part have no spaces, creating a frantic mood and symbolizing that there was no space and the person feels trapped.  I found it so hard to believe that the author could put so much thought into that, but the way one part of Gossip Girl was filmed made me realize that every detail can change the mood of each scene.  In the show, the scene was set at a party and the viewer could obviously tell that something was about to be revealed because of the intensity.  The scene switched perspectives frequently in a way that made the mood very frantic.  That directly relates because there was no time (space) between each perspective creating a scene that makes the viewer feel anxious for what is about to happen.  Also, the music that was playing in the background sounded like tribal music getting faster and faster, building up the suspense.  On a side note, similar to the negative effects barbies have on young girls, characters in TV shows and movies also have a negative impact on the viewer.  In Gossip Girl, the characters in the show seem like they are so much older and mature than a high school student, making real high school students feel as if they should be more like them.  This is because the actors and actresses are so much older.  Blake Lively was twenty years old in season one, while she was only supposed to be a junior in High School.  Also, surprisingly, Monique Coleman, playing Taylor McKessie, was twenty-six when they filmed High School Musical, while she was also supposed to be a junior in High School.  This inadequate portrayal of age is very damaging to young girls because they will think that they are going to look that mature when they are that age, but most will not.  If a high school student is watching a movie that unrealistically portrays teens their age, they may wonder why they look so immature compared to the characters, clouding and distorting their thoughts about themselves and who they should be.  I know when I was in elementary school, watching these movies, I could not wait until I was in High School so I could have a boyfriend that looked like Zac Efron, look more mature and like an adult, wearing tons of makeup, and of course randomly break out into song at school, but not many of my wishes as a young girl came true now that I'm actually in high school.  Making movies and TV shows more accurate to how high school students actually act and look would stop these predetermined ideals of high school and would most likely raise many teen's self-esteem levels.

Trying to think of other words for oppression and dehumanization...

My first attempt (of many I’m sure) of writing a synthesis essay:

When I first thought about the prompt that we were asked to write a thesis for, I thought that oppressing others only leads to the dehumanization of the oppressed, but based on many of the stories we have read over the past few weeks, I find myself to be very wrong.  Looking at others as inferior dehumanizes both the one being looked upon as less, as well as the person making the other feel inferior.  In “The Meaning of July Fourth for the Negro”, Douglas refers to the United States as “a nation of savages”(source G), meaning that people in United States act in a way that is so unjust and hypocritical, it doesn’t seem human.  The oppressor in this case is being dehumanized by the oppressed by being called a “savage”, as the oppressor is also making the oppressed feel subordinate by not giving them as many rights.  “There is No Unmarked Women” also deals with the relationship of the “other” and the “superior”.  When Tannen writes about when she was in a conference and she found herself “scrutinizing only the women”(source C), an important point is brought up here.  She, a woman, is doing the exact thing that she wants to be stopped, but also realizing that it is inevitable.  As Tannen discussed, women are seen for theirs styles, shoes, makeup, hairstyles, and the list goes on and on, while on the contrary, men aren’t so much based upon these materialistic things.  So I wonder how the oppressors are also being oppressed in this situation.  By oppressing this certain group, the oppressors dehumanize themselves by almost creating a"mob mentality".  This blog post may have gotten a bit wordy, but I tried not to overuse certain words!

The Definition of Definition: define what defines you

Although most people will probably be blogging about the end of The Scarlet Letter this week, I racked my brain for some other things that we had talked about in class.(Although I have a strong urge to write about how aggravating the end of the novel was!)  I remember that once we turned in our test on The Scarlet Letter, some people said they thought it was easy, while others complained about how they probably failed.  Ms. Valentino said something very important that I need to remember more, as do most students at Troy High.  I think it was something like, “Your grades do not define you, it’s how much you learn that really matters”.  I guess it should seem obvious that grades don’t define who you are, yet I feel that many people base their self worth on the grades they receive.  I am not saying that students shouldn’t try their best and challenge themselves by taking difficult classes, but we need to recognize that such a concrete thing, such as grades, do not define someone.  So you may be wondering what does define someone.  In all honesty, I am wondering the same thing.  Is it the experiences someone has had?  The actions they take to help others?  Everything that they love and have a passion for?  Is it their biological makeup?  With all of those things, how did grades even find their way into what defines someone.  Maybe society’s focus is all wrong.  Maybe we should be graded on who we are as people, not on how many facts we can memorize.  The next time you get a test back, look at the letter grade in a new light; know that much more defines who you are than the grade written on your paper.

not a dirty word

    There is an enormous difference between how women and men in society are treated and looked upon but society today, just like in Hester’s time.  If a woman and a man committed adultery in Hester’s time, the woman’s punishment was not even comparable to that of a man.  A man would just get a minor punishment, while a women would be shunned from society for the rest of her life or even be burned at the stake.  While I was thinking about that double standard for women, homecoming popped into my mind.  I question why guys are usually the ones to ask the girl to homecoming.  Just that fact makes the idea of male dominance more prominent.  If a girl were to ask a guy, they would be thought of as aggressive and a social oddity.  Furthermore, a girl will spend at least two or three hours getting ready, while a guy would spend at most an hour.  This is because the girl feels like she has to look good for the guy, which means she ironically is objectifying herself, but that is because if she doesn’t look perfect, she’ll stand out from everybody else, breaking the social norm.  So I guess it is actually society objectifying her.  Also, the varying styles, colors, and cuts of homecoming dresses each mark a girl, while a guy isn’t marked because most guys wear suits that look somewhat the same.  The way women and men are expected to dress and act should not be based on gender.  For example, most women are thought of as weaker than men just because that is sadly most people’s preconceived notion on women and that is how most women are portrayed as in society.  I mean how many more male superheroes are there compared to female superheroes?  In reality, a women could be much stronger than a man, not just in a physical sense.   Men aren’t often associated with gender inequality, but they also too often feel the weight of gender stereotypes.  Men are supposed to be all strong and “macho”, while many guys are very sensitive.  They shouldn’t have to feel like they have to be strong, again not just physically, just because they are guys.  In Emma Watson’s speech to the UN on the subject of feminism, she talked about how two different genders shouldn’t be looked at as two opposite sets of ideals, but instead on a spectrum.  “If men don’t have to be aggressive in order to be accepted women won’t feel compelled to be submissive”(Watson).  The ideas I have talked about all embody the word feminism which is a very misunderstood word.  The official definition is “The belief that men and women should have equal rights and opportunities. It is the theory of the political, economic and social equality of the sexes.” If more people knew that was the definition, I think that more people would identify as feminists.