Wednesday, June 22, 2016
What Are You Watching?
Let's veer into the Arts this week. I'm curious about the intersections of your identity as a knower (particularly with regard to gender), language, and anything you've recently watched. Choose a movie, an episode of something, a video, etc. that you've seen and examine the ways language function in the video. How are your perceptions shaped, both by your gender and by the assumptions the creator of the video makes regarding expected audience. In other words, do you think you were the target audience for what you watched? Explain and explore your and their assumptions. Keep your analysis focused on the nature of the knowledge at work. Your writing is due by the end of Sunday 26 June.
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Earlier this week I watched an episode of Criminal Minds. The language used in this particular episode was very formal and complex, but understandable. The series most likely targets an older audience, starting with young adults. The timeslot that a television series is given is often depicted upon the target audience for the series. The timeslot that Criminal Minds holds is considered past bedtime for many children and young teenagers. The series is targeted for a mature audience because it characterizes the un-sub in ludicrous ways. For example, the un-sub is often characterized as a rapist, murderer, or psychotic. I do not think that there is a specific gender being targeted, due to the fact that there are several strong female characters as well as male.
ReplyDeleteThis past weekend I watched the movie "Diary of A Mad Black Woman" which is about a wife who was abused by her husband of 18 years who left her for another women. The husband threw the wife out of their house with nothing. Language was used as way to express emotion as the the husband spewed hateful messages toward his wife. Also, language was used as a reflection to also reason because the wife would speak to herself and constantly wonder where she went wrong in her marriage. The wife became a stronger person and went back to the house to take care of her husband who was shot. His use of language was still used to display hate, but this time she fought back and used language to reflect her emotions and reason her suffering in their marriage, so he could understand her pain. With this realization, he apologized for his actions. Then, she left him with the understanding that they would be friends, but it hurt him because he realized he had no one but his wife there for him throughout his life. This movie seems to target women especially when in abusive relationships. It is evident that the use of language as a gateway to reason and express emotion can hurt others especially women in the patriarchal society. As women, stereotypically, emotion can negatively affect us like it did to the wife. Verbal abuse through language can affect emotions which can affect how one reasons; therefore, language is a way of knowing that can express emotion, reasoning, and others for it is a direct way of communication to one another.
ReplyDeleteLast weekend I watche the movie Me Before You. It was like if comedy met Nicholas sparks. The movie is directed toward women, with the assumption that women are more inclined to watch romantic movies than men. The language used in the movie was simple but sweet with lines like "Do you know something, Clark? You are pretty much the only thing that makes me want to get up in the morning." the language goes with the knowledge that more people will be able to understand the simple language instead of more complicated poetry and that "most" women want a man who says romantic things. Despite the sad ending the movie is quite funny which would apeel to more people. The directors used their knowledge of romantic tragedies and comedies to merge the two, hopefully doubling the audience as well as using simple language that more people can enjoy. By combining comedy, romance and a tragic ending the directors play on emotion to increase the the reaction to the movie
ReplyDeleteRecently my family and I watched The Silver Linings Playbook and I was struck by the adult material present in the film. Because of this, I did not feel particularly like the movie was geared toward me as an adolescent but meant for a more adult adience. Furthermore, the amount of adult language in the movie and adult themes (drug addiction, sex etc.), made the movie more appropriate for older viewers. I think the producers of the movie were trying to target an older and more mature audience than young adult viewers, but used emotion very well throughout the film. Overall, even though the movie might have been meant for older viewers, it still was enjoyable for me to watch and played into my emotional feeling with a dramatic ending.
ReplyDeleteMy friend and I went to watch a movie, Syokubutsuzukan, which was a romantic love story. The language in this movie was not too difficult but contained some complex expressions. This movie is for young people, so it is understandable that the language was not so difficult. These expressions made the mood of the movie more romantic. The language emphasize the sweetness of the movie and affected on people’s emotions. Not only the language, but the back music also affected my emotion. I think I was the targeted audience because this kind of love stories are popular among teenage girls more than elders or boys. The main character was drawn as an ideal man all teenage girls long for. In order to convey knowledge, if the knowledge has something people sympathy, it would be easier.
ReplyDeleteRecently I was forced to watch The Wild Bunch, an old time western movie that I soon discovered I despised. In thinking about what had caused my hatred afterwards, I soon realized that there were no female characters. There were not even secondary or minor characters that were female, there were simply none. The only time a female appeared on the screen was when they were being a sexual object to please a male. This lead me to think that I, as a female and a feminist, was probably not the intended audience for this movie. In addition to being from an older time period, this movie appears to be designed to please a male audience, one interested less in dialogue and character development and more in drawn out shooting scenes and adventure. This was an interesting realization because I feel that when most of us sit down to watch a movie or tv show we are working under the assumption that this movie was designed to please us. Hence if we do not like it then the respective producer of the piece has failed in their duty, whereas in reality maybe we were not meant to like it, someone else was. This basic assumption as a knower that we are the center and that all knowledge exists in relation to us and for us is dangerous in its tempting vanity but ultimate inaccuracy.
ReplyDeleteDuring my summer break I watched Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising, which was about a group of girls who decided to make their own sorority, with their own rules. This movie was a sequel to one that was based around males and their fraternity, and women in that movie were portrayed as sexual objects. In this movie, these girls who started their own sorority were assertive and did not depend on males. I think this movie was geared towards women because feminism was brought up a bunch, and it was about girls taking control. But while watching this, my emotions were not pleased ones. I think Neighbors 2 was almost mocking modern day feminism, and making fun of girls like the ones in the movie who are feminists. The language in this movie made me believe that this was the case, because of the way these women were speaking almost making fun of themselves. I think the producers of this movie thought that women would enjoy this movie, and targeted towards us, but I myself did not like it and thought it was borderline disrespectful.
ReplyDeleteLast week I watched a movie called Palo Alto, which depicted the lives of teenagers in the search of their identity, but with a lack of parental guidance. This movie revolved around lost boys who, out of grief and confusion, had casual sex and abused substances. I found it interesting that the the girls, instead of abusing susbtances as a means to numb the pain, gave themselves away to the guys so that the physical pain would outway the emotional pain. Although it could easily be said that the girls did not mind, their silence said it all; it symbolised the absence in their self-authority. The two main characters, April and Mr.B, April's soccer coach, have a crush on each other. As the relationship develops, once again we see the male gain the power; although this time it is not physcially, it is verbally as Mr. B continuously tells April he loves her to the extent that it evolves into somewhat verbal abuse. The more April gets invested in this relationship, the more her verbal capabilities seemingly weaken. This movie contains many short stories from events that occured in Palo Alto highschool, and hence is aimed at highschoolers who are disovering themselves. It also sends a message to parents for many aren't aware of the hardships of their children.
ReplyDeleteThese past two days I have been watching a show called “Being Mary Jane” which is centered around the life of a successful black women in Atlanta, Georgia. Within the show, there were many mentions of racial and gender segregation and how difficult it is being a woman (specifically, a black woman) in modern day corporate America. There have been many scenes that occurred in the show that have simply left me in shock because of the fact that they just seem completely unbelievable that black women are really put under so much pressure in an environment that is supposed to support them. This hits two core areas for me because I am both black and a women in America and I know the likelihood that I will find myself in a position in corporate America some time in the future.I feel as though this show is meant to target many different audiences. An audience of young black girls who want to see what it is like to survive and thrive in a society that is against you and an audience of white people who do not realize what black women have to go through in corporate America.
ReplyDeleteLast week I watched a TV show. It is an informal debate TV show, the topic last week was "Do we need Superhero in the world?" During the debate, they used a lot of informal or Internet language, as well as a little formal complex language. I felt that I was the target audience, since the language they used was towards young audiences. People in my parents's generation would feel hard to understand this show. Their topic are also always understandable and familia to teenagers. From this show, I can learn a lot about how these people think about this topic, also from watching them debate, I learned a unique way of thinking this topic. And all of these knowledge were delivered as language. Even though I also used reasoning and spence perception, language still played the major role in gaining knowledge through this show.
ReplyDeleteRecently I've been watching a lot of Naruto (an anime which has more than 600 episodes). The language used in this anime is very simple but expressive. Because I watched most of it secretly, I had to turn off the volume. I did hear any background music and I don't know how they said their words (eg: volume). However, I was able to get the tension by just reading the subtitles. Also, in the anime, the important things are always said over and over again. This helped me to remember the characters' personalities and the story line. I think this anime is for younger children because the language is very simple, but a lot of adult likes it too. The author of it conveyed the main character's spirit using language and it is really easy for the audiences to absorb.
ReplyDeleteI apologise for any spoilers. In the season finale of Game of Thrones, language functioned as a means to tap into the emotions of other characters. When Lady Mormont rallied the other Northern houses to accept Jon Snow as the King in the North, she used loaded words in order to unite the houses who refused to fight alongside free folk. By tapping into the other characters pride and fear she was able to rally them behind Snow as King.
ReplyDeleteIn GoT, the target audience is adults. It is under the fantasy genre just as Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings, but taken to the next level. Kind of like the two aforementioned on steroids. In this show my perceptions are greatly shaped by my gender. In The Battle of the Bastards, I noticed how the action scenes were primarily geared towards men, and how the actions of the characters were not well thought out and driven by emotion. I as a female, would not have forgotten about the fact that there was a witch who could bring people back to life and left Rickon on the ground to be shot with more arrows. However the main character Jon Snow completely forgot all about this and charged into battle, fueled by testosterone and adrenaline.
The creators of this series constructed this for adults, mainly men because of the amount of blood and action there is in the show. Not to discount the female viewers who enjoy said blood and violence as I am one of them. The ways of knowing at work are primarily emotion and imagination. They work in harmony to create a world that watchers become absorbed into, as the creators of the show have constructed a world so far away from our reality, yet precisely parallel in the human emotion and politics.
While watching “The Intern” (Anne Hathaway and Robert De Niro) with my family, I realized that there are two completely different perspectives influencing my world view. This movie discussed the importance of family, love, respect for elders, and more family friendly rom com-esque themes. In the movie, Robert De Niro is a 70 year old intern for Anne Hathaway, who runs the company, but in time, De Niro becomes Hathaway’s most trusted mentor and saves her marriage.
ReplyDeleteOn one hand, I have the influence of my parents’ views: that one should respect their elders, and that age will always equal sagacity. The outcome of the story solidified my parents’ beliefs on age and wisdom, but for me, it was more difficult to make a complete judgement on the issue. I am torn between being influenced by my parent’s opinions (anyone is at least a little bit impacted by their parents’ beliefs) and my own experiences. Throughout the movie, I was frustrated with the oversimplification of wisdom, and the exaggeration the stupidity of young people. The other interns were portrayed as completely immature and De Niro kept having to save them from their own stupidity.
This movie was likely meant to be watched as a family, and for the parents to point to the screen and say “see, age is wisdom”.
Coco writes:
ReplyDeleteThis summer is a pretty busy summer for me, but I still have sometimes to watch real life show. The show focus on six famous stars in China, and they would be assigned tasks to accomplish during a show. In my perspective, I feel the show is targeting at teenagers, and more specifically towards the female audience. Also, the show is trying to attract the audience who are in their forties, but it has failed on some extent.
Most of time, the six stars would be assigned some funny tasks to show in front of audience. Last time, they flew to Hainan and challenged some water entertainments. Those who were around them and cheered for them were all females. They came here because they want to support the star they like. For me, I enjoy looking at celebrities acting as ordinary persons. Therefore, because of our emotion and reasons, I concluded that girls tend to look close to investigate certain events they like because of their emotion and way of reasoning.
Certainly, from my observation, I found only a little mid-aged persons like the show. Among those stars, four out of six were in their late forties, which means they should be famous in the group of "forties". However, as I was watching the show, my parents-who are in their late forties-said this show is "lacking on nutrient, go do your homework" something as this. Thus, they have sensed differently with teenagers. As they perceived the show, they thought about "funny";however, from their ways of reasoning, their logic told them "such a parody, it's stupid".