Blog Post: Gender Inequality between Teacher Roles in Films

As a future teacher, easily noticing differences between the portrayal of males and female teachers in films comes easily. Men are portrayed as having a great career and a loving wife to come home to who is always supportive. Women face struggles in the classroom, challenges at home, and are forced to choose between a husband and a career. Recently watching Freedom Writers provided a great example of the unequal representation of gender. Freedom Writers is set at an inner city school in a gang run L.A. neighborhood, where Erin Gruwell the main character, a middle class woman comes in to “make a difference” in the lives of her troubled students. Throughout the film Erin faces challenges in all realms of her life, she lacks respect in her classroom as well as at home.

The classic Hollywood film portrayal of women and men as teachers limits the fulfillment of multiple realms of their lives to the men only. Men “can’t be wives”, but women are expected to drop anything and everything for their husbands. Men cannot be supportive of achievements. During the film Erin devotes the majority of time to her new students helping them face their challenges in the classroom and at home. Her involvement with her class limits the time she has to lend to being a “wife”. While, men are allowed to have it all, enjoying the healthy balance between work and home. Spouses are shown to support the men, but the women are abandoned in times of stress. Eventually the husband, Scott, feels neglected and forces her to choose between her students and him. Scott gives Erin an ultimatum, quit teaching or accept their divorce. Unlike most hollywood films where the wife would just accept the situation, Erin defends her career choices. Erin questions why he would force her to choose between her career and love. Claming if her loved her he would’nt make her choose, no one should have to ask her to love her students.

Women are not allowed to have a full life, they can either have a career or their family. Sacrificing domestic happiness, to live in the “utilitarian” world of work, best suited for men. Fitting in with their dominant peers in the setting is also difficult. Principals or most authoratative figures are male and often bring up the woman’s disfunctional home life as a reason not to move up in their career. An interesting binary is formed during the development of the film between the men who cause her disruptive home life and those men who judge her at school for it. This example is very prominent when Erin Gruwell wants to move with her class to the next grade. One of the male english teachers points out that she can’t handle a tougher curriculm because she’l be going through a divorce. Women are portrayed as incapable of overcoming chalenges in their home life but always succeed in terms of their career.

As large of an issue equality is currently, films continue to keep their views towards women unchanged. Women have a voice in films but it’s one that is severly altered by the scripts. Few films showcase the challenges women face but don’t highlight that the women are capable of making their own decisions. As society moves forward changes in the film world need to be addressed. Women should be given equally important roles in films and not critisized for the lack of having a “homemaker” attitude towards their personal life. The film industry has a large role in influencing the public, that inflence should be female empowering rather than belittling.

Though the movie cannot be found on Netflix, many important scenes including the “Teacher Respect” Scene and “Breakup” Scene can be easily found on youtube with the links below: https://youtu.be/DKWz9hhmKx4?t=37s https://youtu.be/kSlLdItWdhE?t=16s

Parents Who Hid Child’s Gender for Five Years Now Face Backlash

The article “Parents Who Hid Child’s Gender for Five Years Now Face Backlash, written on the TIME website, discusses why parents Beck Laxton and Kieran Cooper decided to raise their five year old child, Sasha, gender neutral. The article also discusses why other parents and critical commenters believe Sasha’s parents are crazy and raising their child as gender neutral should be considered child abuse. Only Sasha’s close relatives were told Sasha’s true sex while everyone else was not told what sex he was. Sasha’s parents raised Sasha gender neutral in every way they could, including: painting his room yellow, buying him both traditionally girl toys, like dolls, and also traditionally boy toys, and also allowing Sasha to wear girl’s clothes, like tutus and little girl’s bathing suits, as well as boy’s clothes. Sasha’s gender was finally disclosed once Sasha began primary school at five years old because his parents believed school would be too much of a challenge without identifying as a specific gender.

When Sasha was asked about gender, he said that gender stereotypes and roles are silly. The article points out how critics of Sasha’s parents are not thinking about the difference between sex and gender. Sex is biological while gender is made up of the social and cultural aspects of being either male or female. Sasha’s parents let him know his sex and what the biological differences are between males and females. Laxton and Cooper kept Sasha’s gender a secret because they did not want Sasha to be forced to conform to male stereotypes and roles. In past classes, we have discussed how almost every product on the market is ridiculously gender stereotyped. Sasha’s parents taking away gender stereotyped toys and clothes lets Sasha choose for himself what he would like to wear. Allowing Sasha to choose what colors he likes, what shoes he wants to wear, and if he’d rather play with Barbies or action figures, lets Sasha create an identity for himself that is made up of his own interests.

Society gives each gender a list of rules and regulations on how to behave properly to fit one’s gender role. Understanding one’s own sex and reproduction system is important, but the stereotypes and rules that come along with gender do not need to be forced onto a child to shape what they “should” be in the eyes of society. The article touches on how many critics of Sasha’s parents believe that not giving Sasha a gender would lead to confusion for Sasha about his sexuality and identity. Confusion for Sasha is a fair argument, but not assigning Sasha a specific gender would allow him to think for himself and figure out his own wants. With a strong selfhood built on his own interests, he would most likely come to a clear-cut understanding of his own sexuality.

The hardest part of being gender neutral for Sasha was the critics, bullying, and ostracism Sasha faced by his classmates. The harsh words of students at school and critical parents would most likely be the source and cause of any unsure, confused thoughts that Sasha had about his identity. Of course, in our world and in our society, not identifying as a specific gender is next to impossible, which is why Sasha’s parents finally disclosed Sasha’s gender. Paige, in the Invisbilia podcast, was not able to function and live a happy life in society because she flipped genders; however, unlike Sasha, Paige did not have a strong sense of identity. Society makes it extremely challenging to not identify as one gender, and those who do not identify as one gender are seen as crazy. Society does not recognize or understand people who do not fit into one clear-cut category, so those who do not fit in are shunned, like Sasha and his parents were. Though Sasha’s parents attempt at shielding Sasha from stereotypical gender roles was taken to an extreme, I do not believe Sasha’s parents were wrong for letting him shape his own sense of self, opposed to society shaping his identity for him in relation to his gender. If society was not so judgmental and gender stereotype-obsessed, Sasha could possibly live a happy life identifying as gender neutral.

One of the most popular uses of expression in modern society is music and music videos. I know that I am personally obsessed with watching music videos, especially if I love the artist. My favorite singer is Lana del Rey, and luckily enough for me, she is an incredibly intuitive and creative person.

For almost a year she spent time writing and acting in a short film named Tropico that also acted as the music video for three of her songs, “Body Electric,” “Gods and Monsters,” and “Bel Air.” These all came off of the album, “Paradise,” which was released in the fall of 2012. Tropico was released in the winter of 2013. I encourage you to watch it because it is decadently interesting, but it’s half of an hour long, so it’s pretty time consuming.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VwuHOQLSpEg

This short film depicts the life and sexuality of a female character and her lover.  The main theme of the film is the progression of sin and eventual redemption, and it is intertwined with countless religious motifs, but there can be many statements made about the depictions of gender and sexuality, as well.

It starts out with the depiction of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, later revealed to be represented in our world as Los Angeles, surrounded by the people mentioned in the first song, “Body Electric.” Eventually, Eve decides to eat the apple and ends up falling on the ground, presumably dying. Adam then bites the apple, seeing his lover dead, and wanting to join her. This shows us the main idea behind the film, which is that woman brings sin, and man follows because they are seduced by her.

When Eve dies, she enters into the next stage of her life, and her spirit moves into the body of a stripper whose lover is a gangster. Lana then recites the very first lines of the first stanza and final fourteen lines of the final stanza “I Sing the Body Electric,” by Walt Whitman, which is found in Leaves of Grass. The first half of the last stanza focus on the beauty of the male body, while the second half, the half that Lana presents to us, focuses on the beauty of the female body. In Lana’s story, woman is existing, living, and dying, and man is watching and following her lead.

The lives of Lana and her lover, Shaun are clearly unsatisfactory for both of them. Throughout the section of video between the end of “Body Electric” and the very beginning of “Bel Air,” in which the majority of the video occurs, neither lover smiles or looks happy unless they are under the influence of cocaine. This is because they are working towards redemption. They are woman and man of humanity attempting to wipe away their original sin. At one point, all of the music and background noise pauses and Shaun asks Lana if she knows “it’s not always gonna be this way” and then tells her to “chill.” Shaun believes, as a man, that it is his job to take care of his lover. However, his role in the film is minuscule compared to Lana’s. Even while she is working hard as a stripper to make money for them, he’s getting high in a convenience store. In this way, woman has a more powerful role in society than man, which brings to mind the first quote Lana recites from Leaves: “Womanhood, and all that is woman, and the man that comes from woman.” This quote is simply highlighting the truth that man comes from woman. In Lana’s world, Adam and Eve coexist, instead of Eve belonging to or coming from Adam.

After “Gods and Monsters,” Lana recites “Howl,” by Allen Ginsburg as Shaun enters a room full of upper-class men and strippers they hired. While Shaun and  the gang members terrorize these people with guns, one gang member’s necklace flies forward for a brief moment, revealing a huge silver cross. These gang members, despite their violence and wrongdoings, are still agents of heaven. They act as a more evil version of Robin Hood, taking money from the corrupt upper-class men for themselves, who have nothing. “Los Angeles, the city of angels, the land of gods and monsters,” is another example showing that the angels are depicted by the strippers and gangsters, while the monsters are the corrupt men who run L.A. and feed of off the underlings. This is also evident by the characters portrayed on screen while she recites this. Lana is making the argument here that everyone in the world is corrupt, and while seeking redemption is a good thing to do, it is unlikely one will reach holiness before going crazy or being killed. Another main theme is the sense of betrayal humankind feels after being “cast out” from the Garden of Eden. Lana, especially, feels betrayed by God, and for her the paradise of heaven is now a “Garden of Evil.”

After “Howl,” Lana is shown again as the Virgin Mary, praying to God for redemption for all of mankind. The lightning strikes one final time, and then the sky clears and the sun reflects orange off of the clouds, ending the storm, and beginning the phase of redemption. Lana and Shaun are finally on their way out of their worldly lives, heading back towards the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, which has weathered and turned orange since the last time they were there. Lana throws away they guns, money, and other material items on the drive there, obviously representing that they will not need them anymore. They then baptize each other and put on white clothing to represent their newfound purity. Lana instigates every action they take, paralleling that she was the person who instigated their original sin. Woman acts, man follows.

“Bel Air” begins to play, Lana and Shaun are redeemed, and ascend back into heaven.

Obviously, Tropico is an incredibly dense film, with thousands of individual frames and sentences that can be analyzed. She also incorporates many motifs displayed in her other music videos and lyrics. I encourage you to watch it and see the ties Lana makes between religion, gender, and love. She does an excellent job of creating something meaningful that can really be interpreted in countless ways.