Colloquy and Carmilla

I have not yet wrote anything since the colloquy ended so I want do that now. I attended several of the events during the week and I was extremely impressed. The level of intellectualism was both enlightening and upflifting. I was inspired to look inwards and figure out why I do the things I do. Some of the questions that I had were answered by the speakers. I know why I'm at a liberal arts school, I know that grades are not the most important thing in college...it's what you get out of it. To think, to discover, to be aware and to be prepared. It's obvious that I really did like the colloquy, and Rollins was wise in doing this.

What I got out of Carmilla is that it was a critque of contemporary culture. It wanted to express via "lesbian" vampires, female oppression in a male dominated society. Women empowering other women. The men in the short story don't really play a significant role, the story did not focus on the males.

What I did'nt quite like was family relation between the countess and laura. I guess I am putting a modern viewpoint on this, perhaps.

Well I am about to watch Fight Club, my roommate has the DVD, so I don't have to run to the library or the video store.

Fight Club

I enjoyed reading fight club a lot. I enjoyed reading the book more than watching the movie. When you watch the movie, it seems more confusing than the book. The book let the reader's imagination go wild while the film was restricting. In the book, I liked the action, how everything was changing quickly word to word. I could not put it down. I liked how the book was chaotic. In the movie, I agreed with the way that the unnamed narrator was portrayed by Edward Norton but I wish they had a better Tyler(Brad Pitt) because I do not think he portrayed his character strong enough. I think the only reason they picked him is because he is good looking and will get an audience and he had a big name. Before Fight Club, Pitt had already done Legends of The Fall, SEVEN, and A River Runs Through it. I think they needed someone taller and more intimidating because that is the opposite of weak, small Edward Norton. I liked that Meat Loaf played Robert, 'Bob' Paulson, the feminine man due to testicular cancer and the hormones he is taking because Meat Loaf is a very big and can be intimidating man but when he played the character he was still big but not intimidating. He reminded me almost of a huge deformed teddy bear. My favorite part of the book was when the unnamed narrator found out that he is Tyler. That is when everything started to make sense to me. The book jumped around a lot between each thought that the unnamed narrator had were psychotic. I watched Fight Club with a friend and had trouble distinguishing between reality and psychotic episodes of the unnamed narrator. After watching the movie I was confused and I understood the book better. It felt like to me that the movie moved way faster than the book.

Along with everyone else, I agree that we should lighten it up. I think we should do something with TV shows because I think that everyone will be able to relate to them and they are present day. I think any of the shows that have already been mentioned would be interesting to analyze. I also think it would be fun to watch an episode of The Office because it has a lot of humor and deals with numerous stereotypes. One particular episode would be the last one of the first season called "Diversity Day". This episode is about diversity training and during this they played a game called guess the stereotype.

Ideas for the rest of the year

I agree that in class this year we have done a lot of heavy stuff and I think it would be fun to do something a little more fun. I also don’t think we have concentrated on the women's studies aspect of the course enough, a lot of it has been on gender. Some kind of television show that we would be able to concentrate on the view and role of the woman would be really fun and interesting. Something like Ugly Betty could be fun, looking at Betty as a woman in society, I know this is something that has been brought up before. Something else that could be interesting would do Desperate House Wives or Grey’s Anatomy, viewing the role of women in each. A comparison to how women are portrayed in television shows or in movies to how women are in society. If how women in society are really portrayed how they are in reality, if what the media is saying is really true. I think either of the above would be really interesting and lighter than some of the stuff that we have been doing. Another thing that had been brought up was doing a Disney movie, which I think would be a lot of fun and the ideas of women studies could also be put into any of these. Whether the obvious Mulan is used, which incorporates both women studies and gender issues or any of the Disney princesses could also be used. If any of those were used, from Cinderella to Snow White, we can see how women are portrayed to little girls. The roles women or princesses and how they influence and show little girls today what their role is and how they should act. They show little girls how their lives should end up, happily ever after, leaving expectation in little girls minds. It can also be discussed if this should be expectable and ok.

A Response and Ideas for Course

I think our class hasn't yet focused on the idea of transgender and it would be a great topic for discussion, especially since this is a gender class. Thus, I definitely vote for watching "TransAmerica" as it would be a great addition to this course. I also agree with watching "Family Guy" because it is a light and hilarious show which pokes fun at the structure of American society and the unfortunate, archetypal family. My pick for episode would be "I am Peter, Hear Me Roar." [The following is an episode description-- Forced to go on a women’s retreat for telling sexist jokes at work, Peter resists the idea at first. After two weeks, however, Peter becomes a sensitive male. No one likes the new Peter, especially Lois. While attending a charity dinner, Lois does something that snaps Peter out of his feminine phase.] Along the same idea as "Family Guy," we could watch an episode of "South Park." My pick for episodes, aired in 2005, making them relevant, are either "Mr. Garrison's Fancy New Vagina" or "Follow That Egg." The first is when Mr. Garriosn decides to get a sex change operation, a vaginaplasty which prompts Kyle to want a negroplasty so he can be tall and black enough to play basketball. This episode would lead us to a great discussion about race, gender and the outrageousness of plastic surgery. The second is when The gay marriage debate lands in South Park and unbeknownest to them, Stan & Kyle hold the answer in their hands. Additionally, if we were to enter the realm of Disney Films, watching "Hercules" or "How The Emperor Got His Groove Back would not be my personal picks. I believe the point of watching one of those films would be to demonstrate how, through these films, girls and boys are gendered from a very young age to fill the predetermined standards for their gender. I have personally never seen "Hercules," perhaps there is something there to maybe spark discussion about how it makes boys feel like they should be strong and unemotional. I know in "How the emperor..." it portrays a lot of stereotyping, such as only a man can be prince [ie. rule the gov't] and women are evil. However, I do not favor watching those particular films because they do not accomplish the conversation I think should be had. From the time we were in elementary school, our education has been solely based off of men's experience. I believe it is time, that because we are in a Women's Studies credit course, that we at least one time examine how these known and loved Disney films contribute to the systematic oppression of women as a whole. I feel that watching a film such as Cinderella or Sleeping Beauty would be best for this. Though, I am curious to know what you all think.

Thoughts about end of semister

After covering some pretty intense material this semester, like Interview with the Vampire, Cat on the Hot Tin Roof, and works by Plato, I think we should lighten things up and watch a few episodes of “Family Guy” as our ending project. I think that “Family Guy” is the best at comically making fun of stereotypical gender roles in a typical American family. For instance, Stewie, the infant child, and Brian, the dog, are the smartest, most witty characters in the show whereas Peter, the dad, is a total moron. If all was right in the perfect world, Peter would be smart, super dad and the baby and dog would be oblivious to everything. I think everyone in the class would enjoy critiquing this show just for the fact that it is hilarious. It points out and makes fun of very taboo issues in today society without drawing serious, negative attention. But maybe I’m just bias because I love the show. About the possibility of doing a Disney Classic, I think that could be a good idea but we would all have to agree on which movie to see. And there are a lot of them. I would personally suggest “The Emperor’s New Groove” or “Hercules” because those are my favorite Disney cartoons, no joke. I may be a dork but I think I just like cartoons that poke fun at certain adult jokes very subtly, trying to make a sarcastic undertone. Everyone knows the stereotypes and taboos in society, whether they admit it or not, and I like when attention is drawn to these things to show that people are aware of what is going on, instead of glossing things over. The “happy ending” with a hint of sarcasm.

End of the Semester Topics

During this semester we have mainly covered the ideas of Eros and how it applies to other works such as, Cat on the Hot Tin Roof and the concept of "Bittersweet". Gender has been explored through a broad area. Coming into this class I assumed that the literature and film that we were going to watch would portray more noticeable characteristics and terms of gender than what we have thus far discussed; however, from this class I have discovered that gender issues apply to almost every element of literature and film. For example, Interview With The Vampire does not directly attack the issue of gender, but by interpreting the movie and film we discover that gender and desire are some of the main topics of the story. The last few weeks of Gender Adaptations are dedicated to the class’s opinions on topics. Some feel that it would be appropriate to watch a Disney movie classic such as, The Little Mermaid or Mulan, while others would like to end the term with a more mature illustration of gender. I feel that the Disney topic would allow discussion for woman studies by reviewing the idea of the "perfect" woman that young girls associate with the main character. The other option that has been discussed is a more mature version of film. One example that I can think of is the film Brokeback Mountain because it is a controversial issue dealing with the concepts of homosexuality that we have been discussing in class. I would like to approach the topic of gender through a more modern and mature approach than the Disney examples because I feel that it would be more relevant to our lives in today's society.