Tuesday, November 15, 2011

Patriarchy in pop culture?

I find myself in shock of the existing remnants of patriarchy in our U.S. society. Ask anyone, we are no longer a patriarchy. More women go to college and more women earn advanced/professional degrees than men in the U.S. today. But women still make less money than men and face unwarranted biases in multiple aspects of life. I see every day double standards for men and women attempting to perform the same roles. One particularly extreme example comes to mind: depictions of sexuality. For softcore pornography and movie sex scenes…why is it acceptable and common to display any and every inch of a female body, but extremely rare for male genitals to be depicted? The last movie I can remember seeing a full-blown male figure in (aside from the CGI Dr. Manhattan) is Schindler’s List. Yes, that’s right, Schindler’s List. And it most certainly wasn’t a steamy love scene, it was depicting a historical event as accurately as possible, and nudity in this case was meant to evoke and emotional response in the viewer. I’ve seen plenty of movies that flaunt multiple female figures…and I’m left dumbfounded on this question. We’re left, movie after movie, without coming even close to equal exposure times or levels. I have no problem with displaying genitalia in films; I just don’t understand why it’s so consistently one-sided. Do filmmakers have some idea that women might grow faint at the sight of a penis? For instance, the movie Knocked Up delivers plenty of images of boobs, and even delivers two (somewhat more shocking) of a vagina in mid-birth, but fails in the penis department. This film will provide a good segue to another example; this film’s big star is the overweight-pothead Seth Rogen, (before he lost 50 lbs (or something like that)), hooking up with supercareerwoman Katherine Heigl (close enough to Barbie in looks). Again, I have no problem with the plot, but the same would never be in a film with a role reversal, and if it were, it would never be as well-received by moviegoers in general. Senseless double standards carried over to pop culture speak to the current state of remaining patriarchy, but also misogyny. It’s utterly depressing to see gender portrayals perpetuate outdated stereotypes, and to see those stereotypes manifest in real people’s lives; after all, art mimics life, and vice-versa.

No comments:

Post a Comment