Me a MAN

Riding the fence is a bit annoying.  I myself grow irritated with people that won’t take sides, if at the very least for “important things,” but I am now in that awkward spot.  That uncomfortable position of “Tim said [insert meany Tim saying here], how could you not take my side!?” 

>But Tim and I are bro’s too!  Can’t take sides.

Yet, they don’t care.  You’re still just as irritating as that mean ‘ole Tim.

However, it’s not because I don’t want to get involved in some petty spat.  It’s a case of both sides being a little right and a little wrong.  This is the case with Mulan.  Mulan doesn’t only break down gender rules.  Mulan doesn’t strictly re-enforce them either.

A]  Mulan breaks gender roles in different ways.

1] Mulan expresses, with clear dialog [despite her singing] that she doesn’t feel as though she fits into her appointed role.  “Look at me- I will never pass for a perfect bride- Or a perfect daughter- Can it be- I'm not meant to play this part?-…Who is that girl I see- Staring straight- Back at me?- Why is my reflection someone- I don't know?- Somehow I cannot hide- Who I am- Though I've tried.” In this Mulan isn’t suffering from Princess Jasmine syndrome.  She doesn’t necessarily feel “put upon” by her “role.”  Wherein Jasmine was running because she didn’t like her responsibilities, Mulan was instead fighting to embrace it.  In this Mulan is saying “I am not this model of woman nor can I be.”  It’s not often said so blatantly, if at all, in Disney female characters. 

2] Mulan makes it a point to take on the role of a man.  Not only does she dress and attempt to act as the opposite gender she fully takes it on and advances in it.  Nor does she allow negativity to push her away from it.  It even seems as though she grows to enjoy herself.  It could be argued that her mental strength grows with her bodily strength.

3] There’s humour that follows a lot of the male’s perception of women and what women they “want.”  Mulan: “How 'bout a girl who's got a brain- Who always speaks her mind?” Men- “Nah!// My manly ways and turn of phrase are sure to thrill her- He thinks he's such a lady-killer.”
If we don’t giggle at this, and other parts of the song as well, I think we aren’t “not getting it.”  That men are shallow was supposed to be an amusing jab at stereotypes.

B] However, 1] That is a stereo type, and there are others as well.  When ever the men act effeminate it’s as the mercy of ridicule and for the sake of humour.  Such as when the “consultant” is mocked for being feminine, then proceeds to really “squeal like a girl.”  It was funny, however his masculinity was at stake and being scoffed at. 

2] Not only this, but what a man is supposed to be is expressed in the song “I’ll Make a Man Out of You.”  and pushed on to Mulan, despite her being eager to master the presented challenge.  It goes on about how “sad” and “spineless” Mulan’s troop of men are.  The general consensus is about men having abnormal amounts of “inner fire” and mega awesome “focus”; that is, being a man is based entirely around mental and physical “strength” as defined by someone obviously far more macho. 

3] Mulan has to “dress up” and “play a man” just to be accepted into this mold. 

So, while I think Mulan does a good job of breaking a lot of gender rules I believe there are still some moments of reinforcing them.

I suppose we can’t have everything.

A little bit of everything

I want to do all 3 prompts briefly, as I feel they’re all important and this is one of our last ones.

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I am inspired to read A Single Man and Little Children. 

A Single Man struck a cord with me because of the nature of it.  The bleakness of it was very appealing and it’s close examination of humans.  Not just about gender either.
Little Children seemed interesting because of it’s somewhat ironic tone about not necessarily gender but identity.  How we feel we’re supposed to be and the comparisons we create and standards we build simply on aesthetics.

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I’m a watcher.  Those creepy people that just stare at others type.  I enjoy learning about humans and things they do and reasons if I’m lucky.  I love humans.  The blog, though I grumbled about it at the beginning, was fantastic in that I got to really know all my peers.  I didn’t have to sit in the back of the room like some shady mo-fo to understand all of you.  I just had to sit down and go through your blogs.

I know I’ve been a bit hard on some people at times but it’s really not out of malice or anger of some sort.  I wanted everyone to grow and develop their thoughts better.  Not to say they weren’t fine, but why not be as perfect as possible?  I learned a bit of tolerance as well.  Knowing what was saying too much or too little and how to formulate ideas without coming across as a douche.  I’m not sure if I succeeded in that, but I tried. 

I think all of you are wonderful in your own thoughts and have developed fantastic voices as the semester has progressed.

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I want to be able to say that I would continue blogging.  I did enjoy it.  Despite my initial turn off it grew on me.  It was the easiest way I had to write brief papers thus far and I didn’t have to stand in front of you to read them.  I didn’t have to open my mouth for every idea that popped in to my head or censor my ideas.  I could just sit down and write.  It’s relieving really, especially seeing I can easily say my physical presence is very sub-par, if not complete shit, as opposed to that of my literary one. 

However, blogging also makes me feel contrite.  Contrite because I always feel as though I’m not only pushing my opinion on others, sometimes their mere presence is too much, but also because it makes me feel inflated and self-indulgent.   This feeling of pretentiousness is what stopped me from blogging a long time ago.  I’m not so smart, clever or good at anything that anyone should take anything I say to heart nor be forced to read it -speaking of which, my apologies for all the ramblings you guys have put up with.  You’ve been good sports-  I’m not so anything that I deserve any sort of attention for my thoughts, no matter how strongly I feel.  There’s never so strong an injustice in my life that I feel I have a right to be heard. 

Perhaps ‘self’ is something I need to re-evaluate before I pick up blogging again.