Analysis Essay To “other” someone is to “view or treat (a person or group of people) as intrinsically different from and alien to oneself” [Oxford Dictionary]. When one “others” a person or group of people they mentally set themself up as the default or the one who is normal, while thinking of everyone else as being strange, or even wrong. The films Tomboy and Drôle de Félix explore the lives of two who have been “othered” and how they navigate their lives and their relationships with their families and friends. Tomboy is a film that follows Mikaël, a child who moves with their family to a new area and tries to fit in with a new group of friends. What sets Tomboy apart from many other movies is that the child in question was assigned female at birth but is now identifying as a boy. Mikaël’s identity is not clear from the beginning of the film. Rather, Mikaël’s identity is gradually revealed throughout the film. …show more content…
Aside from causing their internal conflict, their gender identity is what causes them to have to constantly hide their true self. It is what causes their mother to become angry when she discovers how they have been presenting themselves and it is what causes them to be ostracized when their friends discover it. Félix’s otherness causes some conflict as well, such as when he is the witness of a racist crime and is too intimidated to report it as he had originally planned and when someone verbally attacks him for his sexuality. However, Félix’s otherness also brings him together with his peers. It is his status as an other that drives his adventure and it is his status as an other that enables him to meet his new “family” en route to his biological father. His new “family” consists of complete strangers who he just happens to meet. The people in the family are generally aware of his otherness and accept him just the same, thus giving more to him than his biological father ever would have been
Though unbeknownst to many, the experience of being an outsider is a sensation that everyone can go through. In the world, it is entirely possible for a person to be judged on physical appearance, opinions, and status among other things. It is simply how humans have adapted; they experience society by forming social groups that they are comfortable in. Generally, this group is seen to those involved with it as the “inside group”, and those not directly related to it are seen as “outsiders.” Even in literature, it is clear that the feeling of being one of these outsiders is universal. Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare, Fences by Pat Mora, and The Doll’s House by Katherine Mansfield all properly display how anyone can be an outsider.
Millhone’s personality is “free spirit” and a tomboy type of character in this novel. She tends to avoid the typical female gender orientation by wearing mostly jeans, shorts, and, most importantly, turtleneck sweaters as a normal part of clothing attire when she begins her day with a morning jog: “A pair of shorts and an old cotton turtleneck. I’m really not a physical fitness advocate” (Grafton 67). In this manner, Millhone is not a woman that is overly concerned with her appearance, which gives her a carefree quality in her behaviors. This aspect of Millhone’s character defines a tomboy personality that cares very little for the traditional “feminine” gender role.
Using the movie Love Jones I will talk about the characteristics of male/male and female/female relationship as they are portrayed in the film. Then I will talk about how different the female/male relationship is and focus primarily on their communication styles. There is some harsh vocabulary included in my essay but only in quotations that I have taken from the movie itself to communicate what was going on in the scenes I have chose to talk about.
Gender role conflicts constantly place a role in our everyday life. For many years we have been living in a society where depending on our sexuality, we are judged and expected to behave and act certain way to fulfill the society’s gender stereotypes. The day we are born we are labeled as either a girl or boy and society identifies kids by what color they wear, pink is for girls and blue is for boys. Frequently, we heard the nurses in the Maternity facility saying things like, “Oh is a strong boy or is beautiful fragile princess.” Yet, not only in hospitals we heard this types of comments but we also see it on the media…
What is otherness? Otherness is defined as “the quality or fact of being different”. We see this term thrown around, but what does it really mean? In the world we live in today, being viewed as “other” is considered a negative aspect of a person's personality. Through the society that impacts how we see ourselves, the thought of otherness has been constructed based off of a person's social identity. In the essay “Between the Sexes, a Great Divide” author Anna Quindlen states that different genders should not define the social aspect of one another. Similarly, in Paul Theroux’s essay titled, “Being a Man” he acknowledges the fact that in the society we live in, “being a man” is a standard stereotype that men should not compare themselves to in order to be considered “manly”. Both authors identify the problem of gender expectations that results from otherness; however, while theroux makes the divide worse by generalizing with a bitter tone, Quindlen invites everyone to “do the dance” despite the discomfort and awkwardness that might occur between both genders.
“Girl” written by Jamaica Kincaid is essentially a set of instructions given by an adult, who is assumed to be the mother of the girl, who is laying out the rules of womanhood, in Caribbean society, as expected by the daughter’s gender. These instructions set out by the mother are related to topics including household chores, manners, cooking, social conduct, and relationships. The reader may see these instructions as demanding, but these are a mother’s attempt, out of care for the daughter, to help the daughter to grow up properly. The daughter does not appear to have yet reached adolescence, however, her mother believes that her current behavior will lead her to a life of promiscuity. The mother postulates that her daughter can be saved from a life of promiscuity and ruin by having domestic knowledge that would, in turn also, empower her as a productive member in their community and the head of her future household. This is because the mother assumes that a woman’s reputation and respectability predisposes the quality of a woman’s life in the community.
Gender plays a significant role in family and societal traditions. Some families place such a large importance on that role that it is impossible for a person to achieve his or her goals or live his or her life. Society binds people to strict standards that are difficult to avoid. In Laura Esquivel's Like Water for Chocolate, Tita is forced to follow the tradition of her family. She cannot marry and is doomed to serve her mother for the rest of her life. Her two sisters, Rosaura and Gertrudis, are also effected by this tradition, but in different ways. James Joyce's collection of short stories, The Dubliners, deals with the issues of common residents of Dublin. Polly, in the short story "The Boarding House," is trapped in the societal standards of her gender. After she has an affair with a tenant her mother forces Polly to marry him. Gender related family traditions are hard to get out of because they are hard standing; societal traditions bear the judgment of everyone.
Social factors have always encouraged the idea that men embody masculinity and women embody femininity and, thus, certain gender-norms are expected accordingly. In the past, such expectations were traditional and to go against them was frowned upon by the general public. Contemporarily speaking, there is more freedom to avail oneself of today than there was once upon a time. Jeanne-Marie LePrince de Beaumont’s fairytale adaptation of ‘Beauty and The Beast’ was published in 1740. During this time, men and women were compelled by the social conventions associated with their gender. When analyzing the literary work, the reader can grasp what gender roles are eminent in the characters identity and motives. By exploring the choice of language being
In today’s world, men and women are perceived equally by the society. In the past, authority and control define men while women are given the characteristic of helplessness. Men are able to get hold of high positions while women usually are subservient to them. In movies, we would usually see women portray roles that are degrading due to the stereotypical notions they associate with this gender group. Moulin Rouge, a movie set during the 1900s narrates the story of a courtesan woman, Satine, as she undergoes hardships to earn money, experiences love but unfortunately, due to her irrational choices, faces tragic consequences at the end. Satine is a symbol of how women are being treated by the society during the era before post-feminism, where men have superiority over women. As the plot develops, Satine transforms from a worthless prostitute to someone who is courageous and willing to face her fears in order to attain her aspirations. Psychoanalyst theory and feminist analysis are apparent throughout the film. The male gaze, fantasy and feminism are three topics that will be covered in depth in this essay through relating it to the movie.
An outsider: a person who does not belong to a particular group. Outsiders are almost always portrayed as people who are shy or perhaps those who are divergent from the “norms” of society. In many books and movies the outsider is frequently the main character. Something about being different from others or “special” in a way, is eye catching. There's a certain peculiarity of being of variance; an ember in the ashes. Being an outsider isn’t a label. Many people who are anti-social are generally used for the term. Outsiders are always amongst us; we are all outsiders in ourselves. Everyone is an outsider at some point in their life. No one knows everything about you as an individual, everybody has secrets that they keep to themselves. Every person
I think there are many possible reasons why Felix ended up in an orphanage because his parents went missing, his parents did not want him anymore, his parents were not good to him anymore. I wonder what Felix’s parents felt when they sent him to the orphanage?
Judith Butler used the term ‘girled’ to account for how society set up binary gender categories: “The doctor who receives the child and pronounces – ‘It’s a girl’ – begins that long string of interpellations by which the girl is transitively girled: gender is ritualistically repeated,whereby the repetition occasions both the risk of failure and the congealed effect of sedimentation” [2, 49]. From the early childhood, parents create specific discourse and label gender of girl by choosing appropriate to accepted norms of femininity body adornment such as cloth of particular feminine colors: “an infant in dressed in pink is commonly expected to be sweet, graceful and pretty”[6 ,91] and design, buying appropriate toys and decorating child with ‘girlish’ accessorizes. Adults respond to the female infant according created self-fulfilling prophecy and create atmosphere for development of girl in frames of feminine
Bridget Jones does not live like the typical thirty-two-year old women. From trying to control her bad habits and trying to find potential partners, people might say Jones is not a feminist. According to The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, there are many different kinds of feminist (Haslanger 1). You do not have to follow any guidelines to consider being a feminist. Even though Bridget may be struggling with things from drinking to her self-image, I still consider her to be a feminist.
Do you believe in feminism? Or how about Meninism? In the novel,Little Bee,these are both huge issues. Throughout the novel the role of genders are very distinctive. Men roles and personality are very different than woman personalities and roles throughout the text.
Historically, power has been manifested hierarchically within the social training of genders. Simone De Beauvoir’s concept of ‘otherness’ has theorized how individuals’ personal manifestations of self are influenced deeply by their social position and the available power to them within these circumstances (2000:145). She remains one of the first to develop a feminist philosophy of women. In her book The Second Sex (1950), Beauvoir provides “a philosophical account of the development of patriarchal society and the condition of women within it” (Oliver, 1997:160). Beauvoir’s fundamental initial analysis begins by asking, “what is woman” and concludes woman is “other” and always defined in relation to man (Beauvoir, 2000:145). “He is the Subject,