The Psychology of Human Sexuality in The Bird Cage
The Bird Cage, Starring Nathan Lane and Robbin Williams is a film that explores societies views of homosexuals through the medium of humor. By creating outrageously stereotyped homosexual men, the director, Mike Nichols creates an awareness in his viewers of the biases and stereotypes that they hold . The two gay male leads, Albert and Armand are owners of a nightclub in South Beach Florida. Armand (played by Robin Williams) is in a long-term relationship with Albert (played by Nathan Lane). Armand has a grown son, Val, from a previous marriage. Trouble starts when Val announces his engagement to a girl named Barbara that he met at school. It turns out that Barbara's father is an ultraconservative United States Senator. He wants to meet his future son-in-law along with his family. After much debate it is decided that both Armand and Albert will be included in the meeting of the bride's parents. To avoid makinga bad immpression Val's biological mother is invited to pretend that she is still happily married to Armand. This offends Albert, who decides to dress as a woman to play the part of Val's mother. In the end all is discovered and the conservative couple are forced to accept that their daughter will be marrying into an "alternative" family.
Every sexual orientation and lifestyle is explored in this film, through each individual character. Albert plays the emotional, insecure, flighty homosexual male. Armand plays the part of a more reserved, logical, manly homosexual. The Senator is a conservative, political white man who claims to be interested in family values and morality. Both he and his wife are upper class snobs, who do not want to associate with "commoners." Armands first wife plays the part of a desperately horny, divorced woman. Val and Barbara are the only couple that would be deemed "normal" by society. The two show no outlandishc or unusual characteristicsl.
Perhaps because of the gender roles that males and females are cast into through socialization, many heterosexuals are unable to fathom a relationship where gender roles and expectations are blurred. This phenomena is explored extensively throughout The Bird Cage. For example, in a male-male relationship who is expected to stay home and keep house, and who is expected to be the provider in the relationship? If bo...
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... stereotypical woman, as well as the snobby attributes of a politician's wife. Both are shown as being unable to let loose and have a little fun.
There are no gender identities, orientations or roles that are not poked fun of and explored in the movie The Bird Cage. The director seems to have played up humorous stereotypes of each, creating an awareness in the audience of the silliness of attributing characteristics to an individual based solely on his or her sexual orientation. While homosexuals are seen as oversexed and horny, heterosexuals are seen as having no sexual urges. Women are characterized as being emotional ditzes, and men as the voice of reason. The fact that society perpetuates so many stereotypes about homosexuals is what makes this film so humorous. Who can help but laugh at a gay males dancing cabaraet style as women? This film shows individuals living alternative lifestyles, and being happy and adjusted while doing so. This is a new concept to many viewers, who can laugh about their ignorance while seeing that sometimes different is just plain fun. educating its audience through the exploration of sexual roles, and the stereotypes that we hold of them.
The first people introduced are a couple, Agustin and Marcelo, that has been well established in Chicago, Illinois. Marcelo explained his struggle of being both gay and staying catholic because as a kid he prayed to god for a miracle to change him to be “normal”. Marcelo has accepted himself and continues to practice the religion even though Catholicism prohibits being gay. Another man named David described being teased in his school career for kissing another boy in the third grade because of his sexuality. He moved to New York City to get away from his childhood and to finally be happy in a place where he isn’t judged. This homophobia from young kids instigates violence in school that is learned from parents and from the community of others. The last person introduced in the film was a man who transitioned to be a woman that was rejected by her family and had to move out of her home for coming home with hair extensions. This form of violence caused Gabriela to abuse drugs and alcohol to deal with the pain of rejection. These three examples show how people have overcome the cultural normality, but have experienced all sorts of different
The movie The Bird Cage is about a gay couple that owns a gay/drag queen night club in South Beach Florida. The couple is Robin Williams who plays Armand Goldman, whose is the partner, and Nathan Lane plays his partner Albert, who is also known as Starina throughout the movie. From the start you can tell that their night club is a major attraction and big hit for the gay community that resides in South Beach Florida. Armand’s partner Albert is a cross dresser that does a standup routine as well as being part owner with his partner Armand.
Ralph shows that he has a better understanding of the boys than Jack. He knows that the boys need some sort of order on the island in order for them to survive. He starts a simple form of government and sets a few rules for them. Even though they don’t last very long, the fact that he tried to help the group is what makes him a better leader. Ralph’s wisdom and ability to look toward the future also has an advantage over Jack. He has a sense to keep his focus on getting off the island. When the fire goes out, Ralph gets upset because the chance to be rescued was gone as well. Ralph enforces his role of leadership as he gives the boys a sense of stability of an authority figure. He keeps the boys in pretty good order at the meeting by making a rule that they can only speak if they have the conch. Ralph knows that the littleuns are afraid and they need shelter to feel more secure. They work together for a while, but as the time goes on the smaller boys want to go play. They slowly lose all their help until Simon and Ralph are the only ones left to work on them. Ralph knows that this is a necessity and keeps bringing it up at the meetings. Jack, on the other hand, is doing nothing but causing chaos.
The film follows the complicated character of Marcello, a homosexual man with a traumatic homosexual experience in his childhood, which results in him becoming ashamed of his sexuality and begins to fear being shunned by society for it. Marcello deals with this shame by shutting down any homosexual desire he may have and becomes his idealized figure of normal; which at this time was a loyal and disciplined Fascist. Marcello learns how to conform perfectly by becoming a Fascist spy, but two significant people in Marcello’s life disrupt his path to becoming
Leadership is something that stands out in people; the ability to show courage, initiative, responsibility, and determination. Within a group, people tend to look for an individual with these traits to follow. The main protagonist in William Golding’s novel, Lord of the Flies, Ralph who was immediately elected leader by a group of schoolboys who were stranded on the uninhabited island due to a plane crash, strives to recreate a civilized society to which he was accustomed to previously and apply it to the group of adolescents that accompany him. The qualities of leadership Ralph possess deemed him to be a fitted leader as they are demonstrated throughout the course of the novel by keeping order among the group, appearing confident in his leadership
Firstly, a notable trait that distinguishes Ralph from the other children on the island is his ability to think more rationally. As the boys become influenced by Jack’s rule, they regress into uncivilized savages that lack discipline. Whereas, Ralph is wisely able to keep the boys under order, which is particularly apparent through the meetings that he regularly holds. It is in those meetings that circumstances can be confronted with rationality and equanimity. For example, Ralph instructs the boys with, “I’ll give the conch to the next person to speak. He can hold it when he’s speaking,” (Golding 36). By saying this, Ralph enforces his role of a leader by making rules for the boys on the island to
For example, “sociological and popular understanding of gay and lesbian relationships has been greatly distorted by the false presumption that only heterosexual relationships are normal ways of expressing sexual intimacy and love” (Andersen 1997, 95). This explains how society helps in influencing and identifying people sexual identities throughout their lifetime. Andersen admits that “heterosexual identity includes the belief that men have an overpowering sex drive and that women are considered more loving, soft and are link to sex [… and] contemporary sexual attitudes are shaped by phallocentric thinking-that which sees men as powerful and women as weak” (Andersen 1997, 94, 96). Although, society is lead to believe that men should be the dominant figure of the family. The reality is that, in gay and lesbian relationships, no one individual displays the behavior of an authoritative
For years, Lord of the Flies by William Golding, has been a staple in college, high school, and even middle school classes. The eloquent story follows a group of young boys stranded on a jungle island. They are left thousands of miles away from civilization and are left to survive by themselves. Throughout the story, many insights in leadership are seen through the power struggle between Ralph and Jack. Both have extremely different styles of leadership with varying levels of success. Lord of the Flies teaches me about leadership in the initial selection of the leader, how they solve problems, and how they motivate others.
Knudson-Martin, C., & Mahoney, A. R. (2009). Couples, gender, and power: Creating change in intimate relationships. New York: Springer.
... Ralph has proven to have a much better understanding of people and their needs and this makes him a much better leader than Jack. With Ralph's understanding of the need for order and rules, he improves the condition where the boys are living in. Jack's condition was horrible. Also, Jack treated the boys very badly and like he better. Ralph, on the other hand treated the boys all equally and with respect. Ralph's priority to get off the island shows his wisdom and ability to make good decisions. Although Jack was popular on the island for the short amount of time the boys were there, he would not have been popular for much longer. He does not have any of the qualities that a good leader should have and turned himself and the rest of the boys into complete losers. Jack's plan would have soon faded but if Ralph had become leader, his wisdom would last much longer.
Throughout the novel Lord of the Flies, William Golding is able to touch on the many aspects of our civilization through the various characters he creates. Leadership plays a very important role in the novel as it does in real life because the characters need to feel some sense of security in order for them to survive. The two main leaders in the story, through their similar and different leadership characteristics and objectives fight back and forth to gain the discipline of the other boys on the island and generally the power to make the decisions that they feel should be made. Both leaders, Jack and Ralph, experience leading the group in their own style, which is similar in their desire for control yet different pertaining to their leadership qualities and their objectives while on the island.
Unlike sex, the history of sexuality is dependant upon society and limited by its language in order to be defined and understood.
Gender is a socially constructed phenomenon, and how acceptable one’s relationship is determined by society’s view of gender roles. Because the majority of the population is characterized as heterosexual, those who deviate from that path are ...
Overall, we can see that 200 years later we are still attempting to escape from the gender line created through society’s image of men and women. Men and women still fail to communicate their feelings within their relationships, resulting in an overall unhealthy marriage. Today women and men attempt to challenge these gender stereotypes by taking on the roles of the opposite gender, but like in the “Yellow Wallpaper” are immediately met with “heavy opposition” and disapproval through the process. Although we may seem as though we are improving in escaping from the gendered stereotypes, the past will always be recurrent in a majority of relationships today if dominance within the relationship is not equally balance between both sexes.
For many years, psychologists described homosexuality as a disorder or a treatable complex. Recently, homosexuality was removed from the DSM and is no longer considered a disorder. The gay population is no longer treated as sick but accepted as a diverse set of individuals. The many distinguishing attributes and characteristics of a gay or lesbian individual are considered to be personality attributes.