The Original Superman

So I've been on a bit of a movie binge lately, watching all those movies I always said I was going to but never got around to. One of those movies in Superman from 1978. Once you get past how dated it is, there was one thing that really stood out to me.

In the new Superman movies, Lois Lane is a strong independent woman. However, in the original, they had to make there be something wrong with her. Within the first 15 minutes that she is in the film, she has to ask how to spell something or have her spelling corrected by men at least 4 times! She is a journalist for goodness's sake! She would know how to spell.

We look at media today and see what's wrong with it, but I think it's also important to notice how far we have come. I'm glad to say this is the first time I've seen a movie with such blatant "helpless woman" issues (and not in the standard damsel in distress way).

Different Kinds of Beauty

"Just because you don't look like somebody who you think is attractive doesn't mean you aren't attractive. Flowers are pretty but so are Christmas lights and they look nothing alike."

Physical appearance is a huge part of media. There are shows like America's Next Top Model. But there are also the underlying messages. The media's definition of beauty is very narrow with only particular women and men considered good-looking enough to be on screen.

Most of us know this, but it can be hard to counteract these messages in reality. That is why I really love this quote that I saw online. "Flowers are pretty but so are Christmas lights and they look nothing alike." People do not all look alike, but looking different does not mean looking ugly. So the next time you see someone that you think is attractive but does not look like you, remember that you may look different but you are also attractive.

Big Hero 6 and The Mask You Live In

I saw a screenshot of a Tumblr comment a while ago, and I was strongly reminded of it after watching "The Mask You Live In" on Wednesday night. The message of the Mask is that we need to expand the definition of what it means to be a man so that boys and men can be themselves and not always be showing a mask to the world. The screenshot that this made me think of said this:

"Big Hero 6 did a lot of awesome stuff but can we take a moment to appreciate that it told a 14 year old boy that it is ok to cry and crying and grieving were natural responses to pain and how important it is for young boys to see Hiro cry and give in to his grief instead of continuing to bottle it up and what good that did for him because I can tell you as someone who teaches 14 year old boys they need that message SO BADLY."

Big Hero 6 is an excellent movie, but I had not thought about the message the movie was sending to boys because it's not something I have to think about normally. I had a similar feeling while watching The Mask. There was a scene that talks about media archetypes for males and it showed the heroes of various movies, and I realized for the first time that when I think that, I just think about how attractive those men are, but when boys and men see that, they think that's what they have to be. That can be so incredibly damaging.

And while the message of Big Hero 6 is good for 14 year old boys, I can't help but think about how much easier it would be to start young. If we start young, we can prevent the problems before they start rather than having to fix the problems later on in life.

Music for Healing

When we talked about music a while ago, we learned about how music, especially live music, helps premature infants with heart rate and breathing problems. The other day in End of Life Care, we talked about music in terms of the end of life. Just as with infants, music can help those of any age who are very ill or dying. It helps decrease stress, regulate breathing, and regulate heart rate.

It was also explained to me that live music is better because the sound waves aren't compressed like they are in audio files.You can actually be certified as a Music Practitioner and travel to people who need it and play or sing for them. This is such a wonderful thing that people are realizing the help that music can provide. 

Miss-representation

In class on Monday, we watched a documentary called Miss-representation. It was extremely informative, but also somewhat horrifying. It pointed out a lot of problems in today's society. Of everything in the video and in our class discussion about it on Wednesday, one thing stuck out to me:

Being a feminist really just means making sure women have the same options as men and not judging them for whatever they decide. Some women want to have a career in a male-dominated industry, and they should be able to do that without judgment or added barriers. Some women want to be a stay-at-home mom and they should be able to do that without being judged.

There are some extreme feminists that have led to many people seeing that word, feminism, as a bad word. Many people support equal rights for women but will not call themselves a feminist. You know what? Just because you don't call yourself a feminist, doesn't mean you aren't.

I'm a feminist and proud of it.