Newest Reading

During this week’s reading the author urges the reader to reconsider the concept of gender. The passage suggests that gender is more of a personal decision. Cultural decisions such as wardrobe and other basic actions are some items that determine each person’s “gender”. Stereotypes are also a large part of making gender decisions. For example, man are usually pictured as “rough and tough” while women are portrayed by “dainty and nurturing”. However, in today’s society most people would agree that man and women posses each of these qualities. The text argues that each person can construct their own definition of gender. This can be done by creating your life with a mixture of traits from males and females.
The book also gives an overview of what helps to define gender in today’s society. Stereotypes, cultural norms, and location were some of the most prevalent. I thought that location was the most interesting of all of these factors. After I thought about it, I became quite a bit clearer. For example, where I live there is little difference in the way different men or women act. On the other hand, large cities tend to have a greater variety of people and no solid definition of “gender”. The book also confronts the topic of feminism. It says that both men and women should support feminism. I also believe that the author gives away some of their personal beliefs during this part.
Overall this passage helped to open my mind to views I had not looked at before. The location example was the one that I found to be most interesting, and true. In general, I don’t agree with the author when he states that people create their own gender. Although men and women may decide to change their personal look/actions the definition of gender still stays the same.

Reading-Feb 15

Out of all the readings I have to say that this week had to be the most interesting for me. Not only could I relate to them, but I also agree with the majority of what was said. The first reading involved the recent film I, Robot. The first part of the reading deals with the film industry. They discuss the business side of things, and later what they wish you to think or see from the film. Often times movies can influence stlye and other parts of todays culture. Also, many seem to find political meanings in film. The most recent example of this that I can think of would have to be Avatar. After leaving the movie theatre I realized the amount of hidden political reference within that movie. After all, it centers around the natives being driven from there country for the purpose of American interest. Sound familiar.
The last piece of this passage is what I found to be most interesting. The author compared the movie with the book. Essentially he states that all of the themes that the author put in the book had been ousted by Will smith in the movie. Although I agree with this statement, there is also a sense of business that has to be present in each movie. For example, all of the action packed scenes that were in the movie attracted an audience, which turned into money. Although the themes may be butchered, the movie was still a success in my opinion.
Star Wars was the subject of the second passage. The author states that in a sense the movie has all the characteristics of a typical western. For example, the bad guys wear black, the good guys wear white. There is also a “us vs them” theme and ofcourse there is a love story. I found this comparison to be very true in my mind. When analyzed, the only true difference between Star Wars and a western is the outer space setting.

This Weeks Reading

This week’s readings were in my opinion we much more interesting than any of the previous passages. First, it looks at why people of the same race seem to bunch together and stick with one another. I noticed this almost immediately after I started my first semester in college. The book suggests that this is caused by interest in culture. It also states that most of the “grouping phase” seems to hit during adolescence when people are discovering themselves. However, I now realize that regardless of age, people do tend to associate themselves with members of their own race. This article then leads into the next passage, The Sports Taboo. This was by far my favorite of the readings so far this semester. It essentially compares race and sports. In the article, writers and researchers question why African Americans tend to excel in sports. One scientist suggests that a larger bone mass can support more muscle, which would give them the advantage. In short, the article looks for an explanation for African Americans excelling in sports. The last piece involved Arabs living in America. A sense of alienation is described due to the events that happened on September eleventh.
Out of all these articles, I found the article about sports to be most interesting. Although I don’t think there is any real difference between white and black athletes, the author did give decent evidence to support that there may be. Racial grouping also was somewhat interesting to me. I believe that this is very true, given the fact that I’ve been exposed to a lot more since I’ve been in college. In short, these articles to me were some of the most interesting that have been assigned.