The Susan Faludi Reading

After a very interesting class discussion over Corbin's question of Susan Faludi's book, Terror Dream (http://www.amazon.com/Terror-Dream-Fantasy-Post-9-America/dp/0805086927), I felt I should share my opinion on her work as a whole.

Susan Faludi does a good job out outline her concept of a specific kind of master narrative, namely, the idea of a regression of social gender equality back into a more masculine status quo. This is a legitimate argument. However, I feel the book as a whole could have presented the argument in a much more efficient fashion. The vast majority of the book relies on anecdotal evidence. On one side, this is a good way of presenting evidence for this argument because much of what shapes society is the spread of stories and images. On the other hand, I found her point hopelessly without variation throughout the book. The best writing that I have read which defended a belief examined various facets of an argument. In Terror Dream, I am hard pressed to find arguments that would defend from attacks from opposing interpretations of world events. Corbin gave the example of the metrosexual movement. Yes, this may be another master narrative, but society is not simply the coexistence of different social movements. These movements play off of each other, and doubtless that the series of events described by Faludi are greatly influenced by other social movements. I personally see history as a combination of progressive and regressive periods, with the overall result being progress. Faludi's message is that women have been portrayed as victims and men as heroes in order to rally a nation to war. I see her book as part of a separate master narrative that reinforces the notion of the recent periodicity of social conflict and inequalities within societies. This book is part of a gathering force, like the growing resistance to the Iraq war and all of the ideals that come with it according to Faludi's book, that will rectify the scale of society.

"You Will Not Enjoy This" - Queen Gorgo, "300" (2006)

I finished Susan Faludi's Terror Dream (http://www.amazon.com/Terror-Dream-Fantasy-Post-9-America/dp/0805086927) and was stunned by Faludi's account of the damage that revisionist historical accounts and literature had done to the accounts of female heroism in America. According to Faludi's research, American society has a pervasive notion that women need protection from men against threats. After reading this material, I turned to a piece of media that showed a depiction of female heroism in an interesting situation: the depiction of Queen Gorgo of Sparta in the movie 300 (2006, directed by Zack Synder: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0416449/).

First of all, Queen Gorgo is in a female position of power within possibly the most patriarchal society in human history. However, she is depicted to relish within the masculine strength of the quasi-fascist republic of Sparta. This idea is best portrayed when the messenger of Xerxes asks who she was to speak in the company of men, to which she replies "only Spartan women give birth to real men" (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0416449/quotes, found a little before halfway down the page). This example of androcentrism, the idea of women judged in value in relation to men, is interesting in that Queen Gorgo has beaten the messenger at his own game; he insults her status as a female, and in response, she emasculates him while praising her own ability to produce "real men."

Another example with Queen Gorgo within 300 that came to mind is her rape and betrayal by Theron. In order to gain support within the all-male Spartan government, she had to sell her body for Theron's support. However, Theron has been bribed by the enemy and proceeds to default on the agreement. In response, Queen Gorgo displays a "masculine" display of violence: she takes a sword from a man nearby and kill Theron with it. This example in particular made me think of the Susan Faludi reading because Ms. Faludi, in The Terror Dream, gave several example of women who were captured and committed violence to escape. In the movie, unlike the reactions described by Faludi, the rest of the Spartan council is impressed by this show of strength and aids Queen Gorgo.

(something is wrong with the adding a photo option, so I am putting a link to a poster that shows Queen Gorgo's role in the movie in a nutshell: http://www.hollywoodnoise.com/image.php?productid=16285)

Fighting Sports

For a post today, I thought I would discuss an argument I often encounter. A lot of people feel that boxing is a barbaric sport. Fair enough, I respect that opinion. However, I disagree when people continue with the extension of that argument, that the up-and-coming Ultimate Fighting Championship platform of fighting entertainment is just as, if not more, barbaric. I want to explain my reaction to this idea as well as my opinion as to why UFC is such a phenomenon in the entertainment world (UFC website: http://www.ufc.com/index.cfm?fa=tuf.home).
First of all, many boxing matches are twelve round slugouts that involve people basically hitting each other in the head for over an hour. UFC consists of three five minute rounds in which a person may lose by decision, knockout, or submission. Another major distinction between boxing is that while in boxing, the fighters must stand and hit above the waist; in the UFC, one fighter can "take down" another and make the fight more into a wrestling match, jockeying for superior position in order to land punches. As a result, far less time is spent actually fighting, punches and kicks are distributed throughout the body, which presumably reduces the amount of head trauma (in turn probably reducing the risk of degenerative diseases later on in life such as Parkinson's), and submission techniques provide a "third option" to winning a fight that boxing does not accommodate, which also reduces the amount of abuse a fighter takes.
Obviously, the UFC is much safer for its fighters than professional boxing is. Furthermore, it has been crushing boxing in the entertainment world. In my home of Las Vegas, boxing obviously has a lot of history and weight in the city, but I feel that the UFC is starting to gain ground in major venues such as the MGM Grand or the Mandalay Bay. I feel that this is because the UFC espouses a much more dynamic style of fighting. Fights usually last maybe into the second round due to the use of submission techniques or referee decisions to end the fight due to someone becoming unable to defend themselves. There are many different styles that go into a UFC fighter's repertoire such as Jujitsu, wrestling, and boxing. Furthermore, as boxing is a very lengthy event, there are strategies such as holding out until the last rounds in order to mount a last second push to win. In the UFC, the fight may be over in a matter of seconds, so the fighters leave nothing behind. Another secret to the UFC's success is that it has avoided the bad reputation that boxing has earned due to the early deaths of its champion fighters. In the UFC, because one receives much less abuse over the years, its champions go on to produce a new generation of fighters, as is presented in the popular show on Spike TV, Ultimate Fighter (Ultimate Fighter Site: http://www.spike.com/show/22307). Finally, I feel that the UFC is the next evolution of fighting entertainment due to its augmented ability to entertain its views and because of its safety.

an interesting presentation about the evolution of fighting entertainment into UFC: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O5M3gmqtMu4

Forget "Unbiased" Reporting

I was going through the blogosphere earlier today when I came across an interesting post on http://www.buzmachine.com/ (accessed May 8, 2008). This is the blog of a man named Jeff Jarvis, an individual who has extensive experience in the media world having been the founder and editor of Entertainment Weekly among many other stints in the media world (more about Mr. Jarvis: http://www.buzzmachine.com/about-me/). This blog examines controversies within the media, and today Jarvis is examining a blog written by a man named Nick Denton (article may be found here, accessed May 8, 2008: http://gawker.com/5008177/why-the-times-should-abandon-the-news+opinion-divide) that criticizes the New York Times for having blogs. Mr. Denton feels that, as blogs are written in a human voice, that they are biased and ill-suited in the modern media world.
Mr. Jarvis presents an interesting perspective on the argument with which I am inclined to agree. He explains that yes, blogs may have bias; however, bias has always existed within the media, even written media. Mr. Jarvis focuses on what he calls the "organizational divide," (http://www.buzzmachine.com/ accessed May 8, 2008) which is the consolidation of opinion filtering through the editors of written media. He argues that blogging is simply a more individual and exciting way to present ideas and perspectives.
I agree in a way with both men. I feel that newspapers have been feeding themselves and the public a lot of self-righteous junk about how unbiased and "holy" they are. We need to present stories and articles as opinion because, let's be serious, that is what they are. Anyone can look at a series of statistics and derive completely different conclusions. These are informed opinions, but they are opinions nonetheless. I feel it is irresponsible of the media to operate under an unbiased facade, and opinions should be recognized for what they are.

Pride

I was just reading the most recently assigned chapter from Susan Faludi's The Terror Dream (http://www.amazon.com/Terror-Dream-Fantasy-Post-9-America/dp/0805086927) when I was struck. Do you ever get it when you are listening to a song and BOOM, you notice that the lead singer belts out the words from which the song is entitled? For some reason the band you are listening to has decided that these words are more important than all of the other words, so the members of the band made those words the title of the song, a pocket explanation for everything that the song represents.

I had that BOOM moment just now with our assigned text, The Terror Dream. Apparently the "Terror Dream" is something that a male character in a movie has been living with: impotence (p. 207). If Susan Faludi has deemed that this phrase is important enough to use to label her work, then it must be the central idea to the work. Susan Faludi has been alluding throughout the book to the masculine backlash in response to 9/11. First, she describes how feminist voices have been silenced in the major media. Next, she describes how men in relation to the 9/11 attacks have been portrayed in hero roles while women have been pushed into the roles of the weak victim that needs protection. Finally, Susan Faludi directs her argument to what seems to be the core of her theory: a male-dominated society has been emasculated in its failure to protect its citizens. I feel that this is a very interesting thesis in that most people would associate the American response to the 9/11 attacks as a justifiably angry giant instead of an emotionally damaged and ashamed man. If one imagines American society as one solid unit it makes sense that America would build back on where its society may feel it has been consciously or unconsciously decided that has been damaged. I feel that Faludi's argument is quite valid, which is that the "masculine" roles of protection that America has espoused has been violated and the silencing of feminine voices is a direct result of this violation.

The Generational Gap

Last English class the topic came up of a generational gap and its effect on our perception of the PBS documentary "The Persuaders." I feel that this is an interesting topic and has increasing relevance in today's society (link to the documentary's website: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/persuaders/).

We live in a world that is changing more rapidly than ever. Earlier in the term our class discussed the idea of people who stand tenacious in the face of change through small acts of non-conformity such as continuing to write paper letters through the "snail mail" as it is now called. Evidently, these people do not want to change their lifestyle to the more competitive paradigm in which we now find ourselves. I feel that the media, corporations, and governments are operating in a way that is completely new to the general public, and as a result, people do not want to change.

We world is changing very rapidly, as I have said. As a result, the world is a very competitive place, especially between businesses and countries. This being said, "The Persuaders" mocks attempts by companies to try to gain leverage on one another. In some ways, I feel that this mocking is appropriate, such as in the case examined within "The Persuaders" of Song Airline's advertising campaign, which was hopelessly useless because it marketed an idea without a foundation on simple facts. I feel that the mocking point of view that the host of "The Persuaders" took toward Cotaire Rapaille's ideas was unwarranted, that subconscious ideas are an important part of consumerism. My point is that nowadays companies are trying to jump into the growing pool of young consumers. However, there is a massive generational gap between the ideas of the leaders of the corporate world and the ideas of my generation. As a result, companies need to anticipate how my generation will respond through tests groups; however, sometimes these guesses may fail (as they did with Song Airlines) or make all the difference.

Response to Subconscious Consumerism

Yesterday, when my class continued to watch the PBS documentary "The Persuaders," (link to documentary site: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/persuaders/). we were introduced to an interesting character in the documentary: Clotaire Rapaille. Dr. Rapaille is a psychologist who has turned his experience with human behavior to applications in marketing. He explains that consumers were subconsciously driven to buy products by what he calls the "reptilian" primal urges of the human brain. PBS's investigator, along with seemingly most of the class, seemed pretty skeptical to his methods. How could such a bunch of hokey really make money for corporations that pay this wierdo tons of money? However, I was not skeptical.

I have read two very interesting works that reflect the peculiar sociological and psychological aspects of people's consumption habits. They are The Tipping Point (description of The Tipping Point: http://www.gladwell.com/tippingpoint/index.html) and Blink (description of Blink: http://www.gladwell.com/blink/index.html) by Malcolm Gladwell. In The Tipping Point, Gladwell explores how relatively unknown products can suddenly explode into popularity due to how people interact with each other. The most prevalent example throughout the book is the explosion in popularity of "Hushpuppies," a particular brand and style of shoe. Gladwell explains the mechanics of brand popularity, describing how society can be broken down into consumers with different behaviors. There are an advance few that will try new styles that have never been tried before, then there are those consumers who specialize in disseminating information about these advance consumers. After a few more of these steps, a particular brand may become incredibly popular. It may not be obvious, but the science of sociology plays a huge role in people's consumer habits.

Blink can be best described as a dissertation explaining why gut feelings are usually correct. In this work, Gladwell explores the powerful influence of the human subconscious. I feel this book is relevant because it shows how the arcane human subconscious manifests itself in the daily actions of people. Quick decisions are made by the human subconscious faster than the conscious mind ever could, without any inner dialogue. This concept, in combination with the sociological roots of consumerism, makes me feel that Dr. Rapaille may be onto something ingenious instead of being a complete nut.