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Culture and human behavior
Culture and human behavior
Culture and human behavior
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Analysis of the Film Chasing Amy
Chasing Amy is a movie that uncovers the hardships we find within the confusion of love and sex in our lives. Sometimes the line between love and sex seems almost invisible, but the differences and complications of understanding that are quite clear in this movie. The issues presented in Chasing Amy are directly related to the discussions of “Politics of Sexuality” as well as everyday life in our culture.
Our culture, in contrast to Ancient Greece, uses sexuality to characterize people by their sexual behaviors. Other cultures view sex as a raw pleasure activity while our society has elevated it to the expression of a person’s identity and moral code. Chasing Amy contributes to this view of society as the whole movie centers around sexual beings and the influence of sex on their lives.
Chasing Amy is an account of people’s fears about sex and relationships as well as the inhibitions and insecurities that are attached to them. Therefore, the best way to understand the movie'’ message is to analyze the sexual identity of the characters in it. The characters are used to portray the stereotypically viewed male and female as well as the exceptions. Some characters show a combination of both views, while others are the epitome of a sexually comfortable, confident person. The combination of different experiences, views, and beliefs in the characters allows for many confrontational debates on what sex should mean in today’s society and in our lives.
The first character we meet represents a stereotypical male of today’s society, Banky. He is portrayed as an ignorant homophobe who is quick to make a joke of sexual comment. Banky takes part in all the typical male fetish behaviors such as...
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...love with someone special.
There were some points that made me truly think about myself and the unquestioned path I have taken. Alyssa does not limit herself to men or women in order to find her soul mate. I think this is important because you love someone because of who they are, not sex, color, or looks. If you limit yourself by these things you lose out. It is important to expand your horizons and leave other opportunities open to mind. I also liked Alyssa’s idea of needing a map to find who we are in the world. We all need to explore and discover what we truly want from life. Holden’s last comment is that because of his experience with Alyssa he finally had something personal to say. He grew as a person because of his new experiences with her and actually gained an experience he did not know he wanted.
Bibliography:
The Movie, Chasing Amy
Ken Kesey's award-winning novel, "One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest", was adapted into a film in 1975 written and directed by New York City native Bo Goldman and Czech director Milos Forman. Towards the end of the novel and film, Chief Bromden escapes from the ward. This scene is conveyed differently in the novel and film; however, there are evident similarities between each form of media. This scene is important to the plot because it wraps up the entire storyline. In the film and novel, similarities within Chief Bromden’s escape from the ward include the way Chief escaped, how he couldn't hear anyone in the ward due to being deaf, and how McMurphy assisted Bromden with gaining his confidence to lift the panel and throw it through the window. McMurphy essentially changed Bromden to help him break out of the asylum and back into the real world.
Modern America, in accordance to course materials and personal experiences, overtly sexualizes people, specifically among the youth, engendering new versions of gender expectations, roles, relationships, and how society views people based on appearance, sexual promiscuity or supposed promiscuity, and so on. Easy A (2011) represents an example clarifying how gender socialization impacts today’s youth via several concepts such as slut shaming, slut glorification, challenging masculinity, dating/hooking up, gender expectations and social acceptance. This film primarily focuses on a female’s promiscuity. Olive, the main character, is automatically labeled slut, after a rumor she unintentionally sparked by a bathroom conversation. Soon, the rumor spread and Olive became “school slut” in minutes.
The Ugly Truth, a film which was released in 2009, displays many particular stereotypes and gender issues which we find within American society. Gender is made up of socially constructed ideas which are reinforced by society in regards to what it means to be masculine or feminine. We first learn gender from our parents; however they too had to first learn it from their families and society. Within the American society, the media takes on a large role in creating gender norms. The media is made up of films, magazines, television programs, and news papers. The Ugly Truth, although a funny film, perpetuates these stereotypes and ideas of gender provided by our society.
Sex in today’s world can be seen anywhere. It is on billboards, radio stations, personal books, school books, magazines, peers, movies, songs, and the most famous is televisions. Commercials use seductive images, sounds, and music grabbing the attention of the audience. Movies and television are proof of the sickness of sexual addiction in society. This disease spreads across the country, infecting the way people think and live their lives. Ultimately it is destroying society and what America holds to be morally correct. Two such sources of writing, “Sic Transit Gloria…Glory Fades” and Countering the Culture of Sex, give examples of what effect culture play in the way of living. Today’s culture pumps out messages of sexual immorality and the idea of sexual relations outside of marriage are fine. Sexual immorality can destroy families and create dysfunction in the sacred vows of marriage.
In the second chapter, The A, B, C, and Ds of Sex (and Asex), Brock University Associate Professor and Asexuality author, Bogaert, examines “some of the fundamental psychological processes of asexuality as they relate to both sexual and asexual people.” Throughout this section, Bogaert explains the “A (attraction and arousal), B (behavior), C (cognition), and Ds (desire)” by going through each letter and explaining what it stands for. He tries to get the younger readers to understand the definitions of asexuality by aiming focus on the constituents of sexuality first. The similarities between sexuality and asexuality are outlined throughout this reading. Surprisingly enough, Bogaert explains the differences and the relationship between romantic and sexual bonds and how they appear in asexual people as well.
In Chapter 4 of Lesbian Ethics, Sarah Hoagland argues that desire is a socially and politically constructed perception and that in today’s heterosexual society the current concept of desire forces and perpetuates the split between reason and emotion. Hoagland focuses on sexual desire, however her analysis can be applied to the desires of any person, object, or action. I will give an account of Hoagland’s view on desire, and reason and emotion; I will analyze three things that I desire: my career, developing a family, and making enough money for that family to live comfortably, why I desire them and how my desires are socially constructed; I will finish by determining, based on my analysis of desires, that I agree with Hoagland, that reason and emotion are inseparable and attempts to separate them are damaging.
BDSM is highlighted as “bad, abnormal, unnatural, damned sexuality” in the “outerlimits” of Rubin’s “charmed circle” (Rubin, p:153) a sexuality that is both taboo to practice and also to portray in the media. However, in the last few decades the concept of BDSM has come to mean more in the view of the general public, predominantly in the form of media entertainment. BDSM is evident in film, music, and television, including the 2002 film Secretary starring Maggie Gyllenhaal, Rhianna’s 2011 pop hit, S&M and most recently in the popular Fifty Shades trilogy by E.L James which has sold over 10 million copies worldwide. (Deahl, 2012)
In Judith Halberstam’s piece “Female Masculinity,” she offers the audience a few potential definitions of the term ‘masculinity’ and how the term applies to “feminine masculinity.” She states that “although we seem to have a difficult time defining masculinity, as a society, we have little trouble recognizing it” (935). Halberstam suggests that female masculinity is often blatantly ignored in culture and studies due to the indifferent feeling often associated with the topic. Halberstam uses her essay to explain a variety of aspects associated with female femininity like tomboys, queer methodologies, and the bathroom problem. Halberstam’s description of the term ‘Tomboys’ is reminiscent of the character Emily Fields from the Pretty Little Liars book series by Sara Shepard. Progressing through middle school with a group of ‘girly’ friends, Emily is easily labeled with the term ‘tomboy’ due to her sporty exterior. Her overly conservative Christian family and classmates see no ‘threat’ or meaning behind Emily’s tomboy appearance because they believe it is just a stage in her life. As soon as Emily enter tenth grade and starts hanging out with a homosexual female, her family and classmates grow concerned about Emily’s masculine looks and behaviors. In the book titled Prettty Little Liars, one of the liars, Emily’s evident masculine ways raises concern to her thesis-go back and fix it .
From well-respected Director Craig Ross, the film Blue Hill Avenue is a story about four tight knit friends living in the streets of rough a 1980’s Boston. The main characters of the film are Tristan, E Bone, Simon, and Money, these four characters grow up together hustling the streets. After finding a way to make money the four characters go from small time hustlers to big time dope dealers under the guidance of their supplier, Benny who is the main villain of the film. Through the adventure of the storyline, these four friends highlight the characteristics of what it is to embrace traditional masculinity and what it is to be a man.
During the beginning scenes of the movie, development of sexual behavior was shown. Sam filled out a questionnaire that was written inside of a note that was passed to her. Inside the note read sexual questions such as, “Have you ever touched it? Have you ever done it?”. Questions like these show how sexual interests and desires arise during these years of adolescence. Nationally, 47.5 percent of twelfth-graders, 39 percent of eleventh-graders, 30 percent of tenth-graders, and 21 percent of ninth-graders reported that they were currently sexually active (Eaton & others, 2012). Therefore, it was not surprising to me that questions like these were being asked in high
‘Our interest in the parallels between the adaptation inter-texts is further enhanced by consideration of their marked differences in textual form,’
“Sex and the Social Dance” was a streaming video which examined the sexuality of social dances around the world. Regardless of geographical location or decade of popularity, dance conveyed social values. In particular, the sexuality was expressed through physical contact or lack thereof, in the gender roles of the dance, and in the purpose of the dance.
Gay reminds us that, “womanhood feels more strange and terrible now because progress has not served women as well as it has served men” (Gay 2011, 132). In other words, women have been portrayed as degrading and inferior to men due to the inevitable consequence of patriarchal western societies, in which women have traditionally been correlated with a less status than men. Women’s Realities, Women’s Choices demonstrates this theory as a conventional view of sex and gender by emphasizing that “women have been associated with the body and nature and men with ‘self, ’soul,’ and culture, profoundly affecting how women have been valued, treated, and constrained in their opportunities and choices” (Hunter College Women 's Studies Collective 2014, 152). In addition, an origin myth for Christians is that Eve was made as a companion to Adam, and by defying God, eating the fruit from the forbidden tree of knowledge and convincing Adam to do the same, she brought evil into the world. This suggests that “it is men, not women, who engage in productive labor and that women deserve the pain of childbirth” (Hunter College Women 's Studies Collective 2014, 28).This myth originated from Christianity is generally held to be acceptable at the expense of individuality and has had influence on society, which has lead the authors to question views of sex and gender. Therefore, in the film Coffy, men played a role of dominance in demanding women to satisfy their sexual
Tyler Perry’s Temptation highlights the struggles presented to a young African American woman whose strong Christian beliefs counteract a sin stricken society. The main character, Judith, attempts to overcome the difficult obstacles that were placed in her path by fighting the sexual urges that she craves. Judith came to realize that her urges began to transform from wants and desires to real actions; Judith’s deepest desires were becoming reality. The encounters Judith faced on a daily basis began as an emotional and mental attraction that led to a more physical relationship. These continuous urges began to take over Judith’s well-being as she began to fall more and more into the depths of sinful behavior. The idea of sexual freedom consumed Judith’s mind and spirit which turned her against her own religious beliefs, and eventually lead her down a path that she would regret for the rest of her life.
I really like Linh Do she had a unique way of getting her point across and she didn’t try to elaborate on social norms as like she said its unique for all of us and it hit home about what she said about the fork in the road because I had to make the same decision and my parents didn’t pressure me to do any of the above when I graduated. I got told that I should start making a decision about my future but I wasn’t given the ultimatum of go to college or get out of the house. I was glad that these were not thrust upon me and having the freedom to choose was one that I think made me a better person and gave me the chance to choose my path and make my own mistakes which I think were important in me becoming the person that I am today.