Roles of Gender

Throughout the course of history women and men have had different roles in society.  Men generally take on more masculine tasks, while women are left for caring for the young and feminine tasks.  Some people in today’s society are considered to have both of these characteristics and can be looked at as a berdache.  This person is considered not to have filled all the roles as a male in society, and therefore, is stereotyped as a effeminate, or androgyny person (Williams).  Our society has had many different roles for women starting at the bottom, being viewed less than a man, all the way current with being considered an equal, and having the same rights as a man.  The western civilizations have a completely different culture and consider women for different tasks than how we do here in our society. 

            When people look in at a society and glance at their traditions, sometimes they can seem excessive.  When a society then looks at other traditions they can seem too flexible.  This culture in particular has some very unique traditions that allow a young girl to pass on through womanhood.  In Africa, the country called Nigeria, has a much unheard way of passing a young woman onto womanhood.  The young girls are required to spend most of their time in what is called a “fattening room.”  In this room they are taught about becoming a woman and the responsibilities that they will one day have.  At the same time they are also required to eat as much as possible and gain an ample amount of weight, for weight is a status in society.   It is not uncommon for girls to spend 4-5 months in this “fattening room,” learning about caring for children, fattening themselves up, and responsibilities around the household (Simmons).   

            Countries such as India have very unique ways of parents viewing their unborn child.  With today’s technology we are able to determine the sex of a child, through what is called an ultrasound.  The Prenatal Diagnostic Techniques Act states that all ultrasound equipment       be registered and that all doctors who use the equipment are banned from reviling the sex of the child to the parent.  In 1994 there was an attempt to overturn this law and cut down on the aborted female fetuses.  This was originally generated to control the population of India, making the society having an equal amount of boys and girls.   In 2001 there were 927 girls to every 1000 boys, which was a decrease from 945 to 1000 in 1991.  Doctors have even been jailed for a considerable time frame for hinting to the parents about the sex and then giving them an option for aborting the child (Power).  This PNDT act has put tremendous stress over the Indian society, creating women a victim of violence.  Continuing this trend of aborting female fetuses could be detrimental for the countries future.

            The degree that women are mistreating in India has been astonishing.  Here in American we look at all people as equal, but women in India possess a far less status than a man does in India.  This is very difficult from an American stand point to understand, but it is how the country operates.  Children that are female are given less medical treatment than boys, and the number of young girls deaths compared to boys deaths (in the first 3 years of life) has been greater considerably.    There also is an issue being raised in topic.  Young girls are often missing, and never found again.  The capitalist government in India will only hinder the solution to this problem, when the answer is simple.  Ban sex-selective abortion (Goldberg).

            Looking into different countries and their laws about women can be difficult to understand and comprehend; the question has to be raised, why?  Living in such a free country, it’s is very foreign to me, the concept behind several of these laws, and the underlying meaning of them.  Women should be considered equal, and equally treated all over the world, no matter what the case is, or where you live homosexual or heterosexual. 

This is Dubstep

The drop is so heavy my rubix cube fell off my desk and completed itsself, neighbors called the police and they got arrested, my windows broke and had to buy a mac, my cat barked, ʇxǝʇ ʎɯ oʇ sıɥʇ pıp doɹp ssɐq ǝɥʇ, I have to change my pants, made — people miss the like button, mom walked in and I switched to porn, it became my neighbors favorite song, hitler got his gas bill, I pressed F13 for extra bass, my water turned into wine,it went B0:00M and I want more! 😉

Dubstep in it’s Finest

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I had a way then losing it all on my own
I had a heart then but the queen has been overthrown
And I’m not sleeping now the dark is too hard to beat
And I’m not keeping now the strength I need to push me

You show the lights that stop me turn to stone
You shine It when I’m alone
And so I tell myself that I’ll be strong
And dreaming when they’re gone

House of 1000 Corpses

“Why”, you ask? “Why” is not the question. How? Now, that is a question worth examining. How could I, being born of such, uh… conventional stock, arrive a leader of the rebellion? An escapist from a conformist world, destined to find happiness only in that which cannot be explained? I brought you here for a reason, but unfortunately you and your sentimental minds are doing me no good! My brain is frozen. Locked! I have to break free from this culture of mechanical reproductions and the thick encrustations dying on the surface!

Rise Against

When our rivers run dry and our crops cease to grow
 When our summers grow longer and winters won't snow
 From the banks of the ocean and the ice in the hills
 To the fight in the desert where progress stands still
 When we've lost our will (...)
 When the air that we breathe becomes air that we choke
 When your home on the range has been torn down and paved
 And the buffalo roam to a slaughterhouse grave
 What more will it take?

The Black Swan

We all know the story. Virginal girl, pure and sweet, trapped in the body of a swan. She desires freedom but only true love can break the spell. Her wish is nearly granted in the form of a prince, but before he can declare his love her lustful twin, the black swan, tricks and seduces him. Devastated the white swan leaps of a cliff killing herself and, in death, finds freedom.

Monkey see Monkey do

There is no one thing to point a finger at that is the influence on American society. If i were to look at America as a whole i would have to say the big three influences would have to be government decisions, military and media. The government decisions are self explanatory, what they choose and how they operate affect our everyday decisions and what we can and are able to do. All parts of the government because all affect us differently, and the people have the most power due to keeping the government inline with voiced opinions and actions. The military is a majority influence on our society due to technology they invent though military funding and operation. Also with the protection they have provided in the past present and future of our country. Last major influence is the media in every way possible. They affect what news we heard on a daily basis, what we see happening around the would, how others perceive our county, what our population looks to each other. I feel that too much of our society relays on media for the truth and answer, and uses this information to perceive situations. Many people have a lack of education or resources, but almost everyone has a tv and cable.
looking at people as individuals i would say the greatest influences would be family, friends, and school. Through our major learning and development years we learn and watch our family and friends grow and behave, monkey see monkey do, we learn how to act from these people from most of our lives. As kids were in school for the majority of our time, we look up to these people and copy their ways.
Influences vary from person to person, culture to culture. How someone looks at something and their personality regulates what they will believe.

David C. Potter

America’s System

The social structure of American can be divided up into different subgroups.  These groups are often referred to as classes.  The American society and virtually almost all others have a class system.  This provides individuals with the opportunity to do whatever they want with their life.  On the other side there is a different system that completely pre-determines their future, called the caste system.  These two different classifications are not at all a written law, but rather guidelines that cultures follow.  India is one of the societies that still follow a caste system. 

            When determining a system in a specific culture, the key is understand the equality of the people, are the people considered equals, or are they considered unequal.   This today, is not a common practice, for most of the world’s cultures, including America, consider people to be equal.  They have the ability to do what they want in the society and grow into any different occupation.  In a caste system, people do not have this opportunity.  If someone is born into slavery they will be a slave, if an individual is born from royalty they will continue that throughout their life.  There are 4 main points to the caste system that determines what a person can and cannot do.  1.)   Occupation or the work that a person does.  2.)  Marrying another person within their own caste only.  3.)  Socializing with other people within their own caste only.  4.)  Indulge into the religious code of belief or social ideology that reinforces or strengthens the caste system only.  When the class system is looked at closer, we can see the distinctive differences.  One of the big differences is that one’s social status can be changed.  If you were born into slavery or a pheasant, you have the ability to climb up, and work hard to achieve your goals, and obtain a respectable social status.  There is also the ability to be born into royalty and be removed from your status; this is one of the main differences between the two.  The class system is identified with three categories: the upper class, the middle class, and the lower class.  These classifications can be for a lifetime, or you have the ability to advance and better your class.

            When America is picked apart we can see different racial groups, religious groups, and several other classes.  Some of these groups have traditions that they must follow, for example people for the Indian ancestry.  There are specific laws in India that let the government control their caste system, and provides then with affirmative actions.  This maybe only enforced in India but some of the traditions could follow the Indian people if they moved to America; however, the affirmative action would not be accepted by our government. 

            When determining what type of class system American has, we could consider the possibility that we have a combination of both systems.  With the different types of races and religions, and the vast diversity of our society, it would be hard not to believe that we are only composed of one specific class.  Diversity and the equality of the people in our society opens the door for many possibilities among individuals, creating the land of the free, and the ability to become whatever you want throughout your life.

Symbolic Views in the World

When we look at American pop culture today, we can literally see tons of symbolism.  Almost everything in the movies has some sort of message, or underlying meaning behind it.  Some of these symbolic views can be seen in a movie or listened through music.  More often than not, the type of symbolism found in movies can be overlooked.  Many people do not read between the lines and analyze a movie, they just generally watch it once and give their opinion.  Taking a closer look into the move Fight Club, we can determine that there are many different types of symbolism.  The old house that is located on Paper Street, Bob one of the narrator’s first friends in the movie, but more importantly soap (Yazılarım).  Other movies might blend their symbolism into the film and no one could even know it’s there, or what it means.  Lord of the Rings has a few different types of symbolism also, “The Cross and the Tree may be inter-changeable symbols, which creates quite a striking parallel between the imagery used by Tolkien and the ancient esoteric symbols that I associate with the Dark Star” (Andy). There is also the obvious symbolism that no one could miss and that could be whatever you make of it, which is the ring.  The ring itself could stand for some type of power, the freedom from evil, or the courage to change and entire world.  All of these are possibilities for symbolism of the ring.           The movie Fight Club has been discussed, analyzed, and theorized upon, since the debut of the film.  One of the most important symbolizations in the film is soap.  The soap could represent a form of cleaning, after all, that is what you use soap for.  The narrator who has generated his alter ego, has also put the making of soap into a different form of clean, but is still referred to as cleaning, in his mind.  This is a cleansing process that destroys people.  The symbolism for the soap is quite often overlooked, even though, the narrator clearly states that it is used to make homemade bombs.  When we take a look at all the other symbolisms in the movie we can see, that the narrator idolizes famous people, and wants his perfect life.  A common journalist writes, “We idolize pop stars and the rich and famous, wishing we could be them, knowing it is impossible. However, this movie is not propaganda for revolution, because the movie does not want us to change the whole system, it simply wants us to realize how we are living our lives and see if we can to change it if we want to” (Yazılarım).  In the beginning of the movie the narrator views are just like this quote, however his alter ego changes his views and puts forth destruction onto the world, in the form of soap. 

            If we take a look at the popular movie trilogy The Matrix, we can see several different forms of symbolism.  For starters the name Neo is a Greek name for “one.”  In the movie Neo is actually the “one” who is supposed to save everyone else.  When the word matrix is analyzed, it has a mathematical, biological, and a Latin meaning.  The mathematical term for matrix can be described as a rectangular scheme of numbers.  This would closely resemble the actual look of the matrix, or the green code on one of the computer screens.  When breaking down the word matrix in biology, it is a basic substance without inner structure, which could in fact be similar to the virtual world of The Matrix movie.  There are many other symbolisms in this movie; one of the other characters names is Morpheus, which is the Greek god of dreams.  In the movie Morpheus says, “The Matrix is a computer generated dream world…I have dreamed a dream, and now that dream has gone from me,” (Matrix-Explained) now both of these resemble something that a god of dreams would say.  There is also another main symbol in the movie and his name is Cypher, and he resembles the bad guy in the movie.  The name broken down is “The classic betrayer, the Judas Iscariot. The word refers to a mathematical symbol denoting an absence of quantity, a zero. Also, someone with no value, a nonentity and is also potentially related to Satan (the name could be a shortened version of ‘Lucifer’)” (Bros.).

            The symbolisms in movies can often be overlooked.  When digging a little bit deeper than what meets the eye, there are many possible symbolisms in movies.  Analyzing names, words, and the main characters, we can see just how easily to interpret these symbols.  American pop culture is full of symbolisms, and movies are just the beginning.  These symbols can be found elsewhere also.  The music industry is thriving with symbolisms.  If we look at the new and up-coming artist, Lady Ga Ga, we can see the symbolism in her song, “Alejandro.”  This is a religious symbol and music critic, Klien writes, “The religious symbolism is not meant to denote anything negative, but represents the character’s battle between the dark forces of this world and the spiritual salvation of the Soul,” (Montgomery).  Now this is one of the many symbolisms in the music industry and the list can go on.

            As more movies debuts, songs hit the charts, and everyday American pop culture rises, there will always be symbolisms.  They can be interesting, easy to spot, difficult to understand, or require research to interpret.  Being able to see these symbolisms opens the door for the true understanding of the director, which in return makes us very happy consumers.