My thoughts on things I really don't have a lot of cultural license to have thoughts on thoughts on
So, I just finished reading this, a (super awesome) five part essay on Avatar: The Last Airbender, and how it (most of the time) is stellar at both talking the talk and walking the walk of feminism (the link is to the last part, links to the other four parts are towards the top. Also, the comments are worth a read just as much as the essay itself).
In any case, all this got me thinking, and it actually directly relates to the title of the post (the whole cultural license thing).
I...have a hard time really seeing a lot of this stuff that I hear people talking about pretty frequently on here. Lots of posters that I respect (essbeejay and rawles immediately spring to mind) devote a fair bit of their time to analysis of modern media and how it portrays the female animal. In general, said analyses tend to result in hair tearing frustration at the apparent inability of our society to not trip up hard even when they have the best intentions.
That being said, I feel like I have a chance to talk about this from a decidedly unique perspective (that being a MALE one), especially given the intense female driven nature of this topic. Like I said, I tend to just gloss over things like this. I'm no great shakes at symbolism, and tend to completely miss it unless the whatever-it-is is particularly ham-handed. Thanks to that essay for spelling it out for me, so I could have coherent thoughts on the subject.
Speaking specifically about feminism, though, I come to a point where I feel like I'm culturally less able to recognize it (or sexism) just because I'm male. I mean, let's be honest: we live in a patriarchal society. Men run the show, with a few sparse exceptions. I feel somewhat proud of myself that I've always rejected the stereotypical grunting "tough-guy" male archetype, or even the obliviously prejudiced "knight in shining armor" that saves the damsel in distress. I've always tried to view girls as equals rather than...whatever else (inferiors sounds so strong, although I suppose it's the honest truth), although I've definitely slipped up myself. As a prime example, when I was first courting a girlfriend, I insisted on doing things like buying her things, taking her to dinner or the movies and paying for both of us, and doing other generically chivalrous things (or as chivalrous as my defined it, anyway). She took it for a little while, but pretty soon refused to let me "take care of her," and from then on insisted on us always splitting things equally, whatever it was.
Subconscious desires to prove myself to my audience aside, let's talk about Avatar. This show is, without a doubt, my favorite work, period. It's just so good, and it does so many things right. The essay reminded of many of the reasons I love it so much, from its egalitarian treatment of a vast range of ages and both genders to its realistic-without-being-Anvilicious treatment of various real world issues.
It also made me scratch my head a couple times, as treatises on feminism occasionally do, me not being a female and all. As a general issue, I tend to find that such things read with a slightly defensive tone, like the writer is unsure if it's going to be accepted (or occasionally, that they have to prove that what they're saying has merit). To this I have to say...why?
I mean, I know why, it's because the world is still full of chauvinistic assholes who don't understand the value of their wife/girlfriend beyond "getting them a sammich," and people who have no real ire against girls, but prop it up by making flip jokes like the aforementioned sammich quote (and dammit, does anyone else get made seeing a word so blatantly misspelled? Sorry, tangent, not relevant at the moment).
But then again, why can't one just...walk the walk? Instead of being afraid that someone isn't going to care, or that someone's going to attack you, why can't you just act like you're their equal? Isn't that the point?
Okay, at this point I think I'm more incredibly fascinated with this phenomenon than possessed of real things to say, so why don't we break for discussion now. Hopefully what I have said makes sense and doesn't contradict itself.
In any case, all this got me thinking, and it actually directly relates to the title of the post (the whole cultural license thing).
I...have a hard time really seeing a lot of this stuff that I hear people talking about pretty frequently on here. Lots of posters that I respect (essbeejay and rawles immediately spring to mind) devote a fair bit of their time to analysis of modern media and how it portrays the female animal. In general, said analyses tend to result in hair tearing frustration at the apparent inability of our society to not trip up hard even when they have the best intentions.
That being said, I feel like I have a chance to talk about this from a decidedly unique perspective (that being a MALE one), especially given the intense female driven nature of this topic. Like I said, I tend to just gloss over things like this. I'm no great shakes at symbolism, and tend to completely miss it unless the whatever-it-is is particularly ham-handed. Thanks to that essay for spelling it out for me, so I could have coherent thoughts on the subject.
Speaking specifically about feminism, though, I come to a point where I feel like I'm culturally less able to recognize it (or sexism) just because I'm male. I mean, let's be honest: we live in a patriarchal society. Men run the show, with a few sparse exceptions. I feel somewhat proud of myself that I've always rejected the stereotypical grunting "tough-guy" male archetype, or even the obliviously prejudiced "knight in shining armor" that saves the damsel in distress. I've always tried to view girls as equals rather than...whatever else (inferiors sounds so strong, although I suppose it's the honest truth), although I've definitely slipped up myself. As a prime example, when I was first courting a girlfriend, I insisted on doing things like buying her things, taking her to dinner or the movies and paying for both of us, and doing other generically chivalrous things (or as chivalrous as my defined it, anyway). She took it for a little while, but pretty soon refused to let me "take care of her," and from then on insisted on us always splitting things equally, whatever it was.
Subconscious desires to prove myself to my audience aside, let's talk about Avatar. This show is, without a doubt, my favorite work, period. It's just so good, and it does so many things right. The essay reminded of many of the reasons I love it so much, from its egalitarian treatment of a vast range of ages and both genders to its realistic-without-being-Anvilicious treatment of various real world issues.
It also made me scratch my head a couple times, as treatises on feminism occasionally do, me not being a female and all. As a general issue, I tend to find that such things read with a slightly defensive tone, like the writer is unsure if it's going to be accepted (or occasionally, that they have to prove that what they're saying has merit). To this I have to say...why?
I mean, I know why, it's because the world is still full of chauvinistic assholes who don't understand the value of their wife/girlfriend beyond "getting them a sammich," and people who have no real ire against girls, but prop it up by making flip jokes like the aforementioned sammich quote (and dammit, does anyone else get made seeing a word so blatantly misspelled? Sorry, tangent, not relevant at the moment).
But then again, why can't one just...walk the walk? Instead of being afraid that someone isn't going to care, or that someone's going to attack you, why can't you just act like you're their equal? Isn't that the point?
Okay, at this point I think I'm more incredibly fascinated with this phenomenon than possessed of real things to say, so why don't we break for discussion now. Hopefully what I have said makes sense and doesn't contradict itself.