Cougar

http://nymag.com/arts/tv/features/61733/

This article happened to be published in tandem to our classroom discussions dealing with gendered stereotypes. “The Cougar Moment” is a trip down memory lane of the most iconic of female cougars, in relation to the newest cougar to hit television, Courtney Cox in Cougar Town. I have not gotten a chance to see Cox’s new show, but I haven’t heard the best of critic acclaim. In fact, the writer of this article, Emily Nussbaum, tears the shows to pieces. Why is that, one might ask? Because she believes that Cox’s character, Jules Cobb, represents the worst kind of cougar that exists. Instead of exalting her character, by creating a sense of pride and independence in being a single older woman, Jules whines and moans about her deteriorating good looks. Samantha Jones from Sex & The City, on the other hand, exudes enough self confidence that there is no need for her to even bring up the fact that she is a beautiful woman. Her assertion and control in the situations she is placed in is exuded in all her actions, from her smile, down to her shoes, and what you’re assuming this character must be carrying in her purse.

It upsets me to think about how writers of these shows can create a self-loathing character such as Jules Cobb, who is sending out mixed messages about what it is a single, older woman represents. Samantha Jones sees sex purely as self-fulfillment. She understands the power she creates for herself in a relationship when she treats sex as a necessity. By doing so, Samantha develops competitive and aggressive qualities in order to acquire what she wants; these are typically male characteristics and it is wonderful that Sex & The City allows for a female character to possess them. Jules Cobb, on the other hand, views “sex as a measuring stick: proof you’re hot enough to make men want to have sex with you.” ( “The Cougar Moment”) I agree with the writer of this article, that Cox’s character would most likely resonate more with its viewers if they created a character more similar to Samantah Jones. Yes, this may show another side of the “typical cougar” character, however, it is a negative representation of women. One that is so blatant, it may be causing viewers to detract from the show, surely alongside some other reasons…

cultural ideologies of gender in 'Friends'

I'm sure we've all heard of the TV show friends, and probably many of us have seen a couple of episodes. It's one of my favorite shows ever - my sister and I own the entire series and used to watch it pretty often to pass the time (before I got to NYU).

Cultural ideologies of male masculinity, and even more broadly, heterosexuality are a very large part of the show and its humor. One rather specific example of this is Joey and Chandler's friendship, and more particularly, the way that they engage each other emotionally and to a certain extent physically. A major running gag in the series is Joey and Chandler's occasional propensity to hug each other after an event that somehow shows the strength of their friendship.

Throughout the show, and evidenced by the hugging sequences, there's a pretty distinct polarization in categorizing male friendships - on the one hand there is a normative, conventional and heterosexual 'buddies' friendship and on the other there's an undertone of a homosexual, 'this is weird, let's stop hugging' ideology.

Part of the humor lies in Chandler and Joey's characters, the former is constantly referred to as effeminate while the latter is (maybe in every episode) referred to as a womanizer. It's funny, as well as problematic, because the situation is displayed and treated in a way that is intentionally pointing out a cultural and gender taboo - that the conventional, heterosexual man doesn't hug.

Extra: Joey and Ross taking naps

Comic Adult.

So I'm very much a fan of adult cartoons and comics as they seem completely ironic to me and quite frankly make me feel like I am a part of and included in that irony. However, despite the misleading opening sentence of this post, this post is not about adult cartoons as much as it's about children's cartoons. I have to admit that I am a huge Spongebob fan. And I find it completely weird that as a 19 year old college student, I find amusement in a show meant for a 8-13 year old age range. Or is it? Spongebob most definitely contains humor that most 8-13 year olds would never catch let alone understand. I think it's safe to say that the producers of these shows add humor meant for older audiences. Perhaps a bigger question is: Are producers interested in entertaining all segments or is all the hidden adult humor meant to be hidden only to be later discovered by adults. I am tempted to go with the latter as I personally am a child who has grown up on a show only to return to that show with new meaning and greater understanding.


Or maybe the show is not targeted to me at all and my appreciation for children's program is something that I will have no matter what my age :/

The Rise and Fall of The Club Kids

Last week I blogged about the cult sensation, book turned movie Party Monster: The Rise and Fall of the Club Kids. I think both the book and movie are interesting to look at yet again, this time in the context of the ideology of what it is to be masculine in modern society. As Meyers discussed in her piece on Masculinities of the OC, the hegemonic male is a stereotypical aspect of hegemonic desire; he is tanned, buffed and bronzed. He is heroic. He is aggressive. He is all male. And, when reading her piece, it became clear that though she was discussing the OC, she was making presumptions that most fiction in our youth culture is presented with the male protagonist being this hegemonic concept of masculinity.

Party Monster, however, is interesting in that the characters are all subordinate, as they are homosexual and effeminate in total. So, does this mean that Party Monster is counter-hegemonic because it is not representing hegemonic masculinity to exclusion? I think the answer is yes. Yes because their representations of the protagonist is not the ideological stereotype.

Urs Fischer

As I was reading a review in the Village Voice of the Urs Fischer show now on display at the New Museum of Contemporary Art, I found it to be saturated with post-modern criticism. One of the first critical questions she poses about the exhibit is "isn't this a replay of something we've seen a hundred times before?" A characteristic of the post-modern discourse is that nothing is new and everything has been done before. The article continues with this theme comparing everything in the exhibition to something from the past. She dedicates the last section of her article to dissecting each section of the show and highlighting all the artists who influenced Fischer, from Koons to Kippenberger. Most art develops in discourse within a movement, a time period, or in reference to another form of art, so that many art contemporaries produce similar work, such as Andy Goldsworthy and Robert Smithson in the land art movement. However, the criticism within the post-modernist era is that there is not cohesive movement between contemporaries, rather it is characterized by a random speckling of artists in discourse with past movements making contemporary art shows seem dated.

One of the comments in the article I found most interesting was how the New Museum was "Inaugurated as an upstart venture with aims to realign the art world's chi..., 30 years later, it is following the standard template: anointing white, male, European artists in an attempt to build a reciprocal beneficial art history." So, maybe it is not our generations fault we are not seeing any new art, but the benefactors of art are obsessed with art of their generation unwilling to admit anything is new is worthy of display. Although this may be the case, I think there is new innovative art being displayed. I particularly enjoyed the Cai Guo-Qiang show at the Guggenheim. The artist uses the tradition Chinese gunpowder to make his drawings, which he explodes on the paper leaving distinct marks. I also think that in the field of Architecture, Frank Gehry is doing innovative work by developing his buildings to mold into the surrounding landscapes. At the Guggenheim Bilbao in Spain, Richard Serra also designed a monumental sculpture for the permanent collection to highlight the architecture of the Frank Gehry, which develops an interesting discourse. The sculpture itself also presents a new idea of sculpture to be a compounding communal experience over a matter of time, hence the title of the work.

Although I generally take a negative view on post modernism, I do think there is new concepts to explore in art we just have to look for them.

New Masculinity

Our discussion of masculinities and how they're presented in the media made me click on this article, "Do Young Men Need a New Kind of Masculinity?".  The piece discusses a new kind of young man, one who is progressive and even feminist, who resists traditional ideas that men have to be "emotionless dickbots," as the writer puts it. I have to say, the idea of a feminist man was one I hadn't thought about before. 

And honestly, I don't think I know any guys who proudly self-identify as "feminist," although I know plenty who care about equality and are sensitive to women's issues. The thing is, what kind of role models do these guys have? They're presented with few options in the media (think about the four types of masculinity exemplified by characters in The O.C). 

None of my male friends are overtly sexist. I've never felt like I was inferior or like they didn't take me seriously. But I don't think any of them would ever say they were feminists, because they've been taught that a real man can't be anything that's too closely associated with women. Their role models on TV and in the movies are strong, successful, don't show emotion, and always call the shots when it comes to relationships. 

I think this portrayal of the ideal man probably creates a lot of anxiety for guys - they're constantly trying to one-up each other in terms of masculinity. It must get kind of exhausting. I'm glad that men are starting to resist this and it makes me hopeful for a more equal future. 

Bringing back the classics in a Postmodern Society

I still am by no means an expert at postmodernism, but I think based on our last discussion we could say that generally, that is the direction that media chooses to take nowadays.
We equated movies like Shrek and all Disney/Pixar films to the movement. Clearly, such animation is quite revolutionary in terms of technological manipulation. Many films geared toward kids are following the trend: think Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, Bolt, Spy Kids. In fact, I don't think that cartoons are ever the case anymore. It's a sign of the times -- technology reflects progress, and in this competitive world we always want to be ahead.
Until you mention "Princess and the Frog," which is Disney's nostalgic way of bringing back the magic of the good old days, when characters were drawn by hand. MANUAL LABOR.
So does that mean Disney is relegating to an inferior form of animation, with all the others taking the digital direction? Are they running out of ideas? Alternatively, is it a sign that postmodernism is not anymore the case?
I think we're overanalyzing here. In my opinion, Disney is just reponding to those fans who miss that kind of animation (wasn't "Lilo and Stitch" the last one of its kind?). But there really is something CLASSIC about returning to that mode of art.
Even if some may view that kind of animation as "outdated," I see it in a different lens. Just because there are some signs of media industries resorting to postmodernist tactics does not mean that it is FIXED. Think of it this way: when a kid buys a new toy on the market, it does not mean that he will stop playing with his older toys. We do not accept one and reject all the others. Progress is not defined by the "hot new thing" being used today, but other inventions are taken into account, be it past or present. We accumulate layers and layers of ideas, and we are free to pick and choose from these different things.
It works with the fashion industry too. For example, flashy neon tights, which were "in" back in the 80s and out for a while, are back in. There's so much freedom in that trends are recycled and reinvented. I'd say the same thing with "Princess and the Frog." Though the plot line honestly does not excite me, I'm interested to see how Disney resurrects what used to be an old art form.