And That’s What Happened on Glee Fox’s hit television show Glee is more than just a realistic twist on Disney’s High School Musical. It presents different and diverse cast and characters, with different races, sexual orientations, genders, families, socioeconomic statuses, and walks of life. Though it boasts a character to connect to any personality, many of the characters fall into stereotypical categories, particularly the supposed “strong female leads”. For example, in the episode “Furt” in the show’s second season (2010), which in the credits show that it was directed by a woman, Carol Banker—the show’s first female director—the characters of Sue, Rachel, Quinn, and Santana are all featured as main dynamic characters, but in most cases they actually show they have been dominated by their male counterparts. Take for example the character Sue Sylvester, a portrayed brutally independent woman, chooses to marry—herself. Standing up to bullies and even her own mother, Sue fights judgment throughout the show for her decision. However, the problem with this charge toward feminine independence is that the action was spurred by Rod, a former flame of Sue, who announced his engagement, which prompted Sue to announce hers. The excitable and energetic character Rachel Berry, known for taking a stand and being a star, stands up for the character Kurt, who is being bullied for being gay by the closet-gay Karafsky. However, her solution is to call a meeting of the football players’ girlfriends to have them defend Kurt, and when they get hurt after a fight scene, what do these girls do? They swoon over the injuries and take care of their men, exactly what the stereotypical “female” does to her “wounded hero” in every stock character story book. The character Quinn, one of the football girlfriends aforementioned, does have some feminist tendencies, giving a small rant in the episode “The Rocky Horror Glee Show”, and in the episode “Furt” calls Rachel out on her male-leading plan that did not work (Season 2, 2010). However, Quinn is notorious for being manipulating and taking down her fellow female companions, making her way to the top of the cheerleader pyramid by ratting out Santana’s breast augmentation. Speaking of the character Santana, who is shown to have some lesbian tendencies with the female character Brittany but claims it is because, “I need something warm under my stomach for my food to digest, like a lizard, and [Noah] Puck is in juvie” (episode “Duets” Season 2, 2010). In “Furt,” she throws a very longing look at all the weddings, engagements, and couplings in this episode, showing not necessarily that she wants to be married herself, but she has a definite relationship angst after being turned down by the male character Puck (Season 2, 2010). So, she does what most weak female characters without a partner do in old westerns and non-feminist settings: she hits on another male character because she feels hut and lonely. However, we get a glimpse that she hasn’t forgotten about Brittany, who now has a boyfriend. In fact, it is just the opposite. As we can see, many of the female leads that are supposed to be strong, defined women allow men and vanities to control and fuel their actions to drive the plot forward. They each claim their own plans of assertiveness that are either inspired by men or only give merit to the men. The women are clearly not in charge in this episode.
Feminist Criticism and Mulan Children are introduced to the idea of gender-specific items, behaviors, and occupations when they are very young. Girls receive a flood of pink dolls, dollhouses, stuffed animals, and dresses; while boys are given toy cars, toolsets, and nerf guns. More importantly, each child is given the idea of gender superiority (male) or inferiority (female). What makes a gender superior or inferior? As a society, we only have this image of ourselves because we perpetuate it with each generation, enforcing the idea that women should be held under the thumb of men and if a man cannot control or protect a woman then he is not very manly at all. Using feminist critical theory, a critical method concerned with the status of women in a society, I am going to look at a text featuring a woman protagonist who fights the chains of a patriarchal society and becomes a hero—Disney’s Mulan (Lynn 221). I will examine what Mulan does to rebel against male authority and why her actions are seen as a rebellion in the first place. Fa Mulan is introduced to the audience as a clumsy and distracted girl who is not very concerned with her appointment with the matchmaker; instead she is more concerned with how the outcome of the appointment will affect her family’s honorable name. She is late to her dressing and obviously has no clue what she is doing when she finally falls in line with the other girls on their way to the matchmaker. Her first instance of rebellion is accidental—the matchmaker calls her an unworthy bride and she leaves without getting engaged. This is a big deal in ancient Chinese society, as a woman’s status depends entirely on her husband. Without the promise of a husband, Mulan’s social status falls and she shames her family. This is a perfect example of the hand of man controlling a woman’s life; a male-dominated society pins its women down with shame and disrespect if they cannot or will not follow a man’s rules. The incident with the matchmaker leads Mulan to question her worth as a woman and a human being. When she finds out her handicapped father has been called to the war, she makes her move—she steals his armor and sword and takes his place in the army. This leads to many humorous situations in the movie as she tries to fit in with “the guys” while keeping her feminine identity a secret. At that time, it was forbidden for women to fight in the army, and any woman found sneaking in would be executed. War was, and still is for the most part, considered “a man’s game.” Men believe women should stay home and cook and clean while they go off and beat each other’s faces in. This sort of ideology was illustrated in the movie through the song “A Girl Worth Fighting for” in which the men sang about their perfect lady; when Mulan tried to jump in with her two cents (“How ‘bout a girl who’s got a brain, who always speaks her mind?”), the men immediately dismissed her idea (Mulan). When Mulan is exposed as a woman, the emperor’s advisor immediately calls for her execution; however, her life is spared because the captain of her unit owes her his life, but she is still abandoned on the mountain to freeze.
Once Mulan is seen as a woman again, she runs into roadblocks as she tries to warn the capital of the approaching Hun forces. She is blatantly ignored and her warnings are laughed off. It is only when the emperor is kidnapped that Shang, her captain, grudgingly accepts her at his side as a warrior. It is at this point in the movie that the audience sees gender roles switched—the men get dolled up in makeup and dresses to distract the Hun soldiers while Mulan and Shang rescue the emperor. This can be seen as an acknowledgement on their part that Mulan is a woman and can kick as much butt as any man. The emperor acknowledges her similarly at the end of the movie—in a shocking act of respect, the emperor, who is seen as a god, bows low to a young woman. Mulan’s rebellion against her suffocating patriarchal society earned her recognition as a hero and savior of all of China. However, if it weren’t for the superior male values in place, she may never have gone on this adventure at all. It is because men expect submission from women that she shamed her family by failing to get engaged and in turn joined the army to regain her family’s honor. In ancient China, a woman’s status is dependent entirely upon the men around her; having no husband at her age would have put her one of the lowest positions in the country. The similar ideals that women are delicate creatures that must be protected by men further perpetuate the cycle of the submissive female and dominant male society. Women become complacent and accept their lower-class status and even today we see women conforming to the idea that they are nothing without men. Mulan is a girl who clearly saw the injustices against women but could not fight those injustices without shedding her womanly skin and becoming a man. Women cannot fight for their rights without being acknowledged by the patriarch. If there were no men who respect women and their rights, there is no way the female gender could break free from male control; because there was no one to fight for feminine rights, China exploited its women for many centuries. It is a sad moment when one realizes the true helplessness of women in a patriarchal society. It is because of strong and intelligent women like Mulan that societies around the world have moved to a path that is slowly recognizing gender equality. Lynn, Steven. Texts and Contexts: Writing about Literature with Critical Theory. New York: Longman, 2011. Print.
Mulan. Dir. Tony Bancroft and Barry Cook. Perf. Lea Salonga, Eddie Murphy, and Donny Osmond. Walt Disney Pictures, 1998. Videocassette.
And That’s What Happened on Glee
ReplyDeleteFox’s hit television show Glee is more than just a realistic twist on Disney’s High School Musical. It presents different and diverse cast and characters, with different races, sexual orientations, genders, families, socioeconomic statuses, and walks of life. Though it boasts a character to connect to any personality, many of the characters fall into stereotypical categories, particularly the supposed “strong female leads”.
For example, in the episode “Furt” in the show’s second season (2010), which in the credits show that it was directed by a woman, Carol Banker—the show’s first female director—the characters of Sue, Rachel, Quinn, and Santana are all featured as main dynamic characters, but in most cases they actually show they have been dominated by their male counterparts. Take for example the character Sue Sylvester, a portrayed brutally independent woman, chooses to marry—herself. Standing up to bullies and even her own mother, Sue fights judgment throughout the show for her decision. However, the problem with this charge toward feminine independence is that the action was spurred by Rod, a former flame of Sue, who announced his engagement, which prompted Sue to announce hers.
The excitable and energetic character Rachel Berry, known for taking a stand and being a star, stands up for the character Kurt, who is being bullied for being gay by the closet-gay Karafsky. However, her solution is to call a meeting of the football players’ girlfriends to have them defend Kurt, and when they get hurt after a fight scene, what do these girls do? They swoon over the injuries and take care of their men, exactly what the stereotypical “female” does to her “wounded hero” in every stock character story book.
The character Quinn, one of the football girlfriends aforementioned, does have some feminist tendencies, giving a small rant in the episode “The Rocky Horror Glee Show”, and in the episode “Furt” calls Rachel out on her male-leading plan that did not work (Season 2, 2010). However, Quinn is notorious for being manipulating and taking down her fellow female companions, making her way to the top of the cheerleader pyramid by ratting out Santana’s breast augmentation.
Speaking of the character Santana, who is shown to have some lesbian tendencies with the female character Brittany but claims it is because, “I need something warm under my stomach for my food to digest, like a lizard, and [Noah] Puck is in juvie” (episode “Duets” Season 2, 2010). In “Furt,” she throws a very longing look at all the weddings, engagements, and couplings in this episode, showing not necessarily that she wants to be married herself, but she has a definite relationship angst after being turned down by the male character Puck (Season 2, 2010). So, she does what most weak female characters without a partner do in old westerns and non-feminist settings: she hits on another male character because she feels hut and lonely. However, we get a glimpse that she hasn’t forgotten about Brittany, who now has a boyfriend. In fact, it is just the opposite.
As we can see, many of the female leads that are supposed to be strong, defined women allow men and vanities to control and fuel their actions to drive the plot forward. They each claim their own plans of assertiveness that are either inspired by men or only give merit to the men. The women are clearly not in charge in this episode.
Feminist Criticism and Mulan
ReplyDeleteChildren are introduced to the idea of gender-specific items, behaviors, and occupations when they are very young. Girls receive a flood of pink dolls, dollhouses, stuffed animals, and dresses; while boys are given toy cars, toolsets, and nerf guns. More importantly, each child is given the idea of gender superiority (male) or inferiority (female). What makes a gender superior or inferior? As a society, we only have this image of ourselves because we perpetuate it with each generation, enforcing the idea that women should be held under the thumb of men and if a man cannot control or protect a woman then he is not very manly at all. Using feminist critical theory, a critical method concerned with the status of women in a society, I am going to look at a text featuring a woman protagonist who fights the chains of a patriarchal society and becomes a hero—Disney’s Mulan (Lynn 221). I will examine what Mulan does to rebel against male authority and why her actions are seen as a rebellion in the first place.
Fa Mulan is introduced to the audience as a clumsy and distracted girl who is not very concerned with her appointment with the matchmaker; instead she is more concerned with how the outcome of the appointment will affect her family’s honorable name. She is late to her dressing and obviously has no clue what she is doing when she finally falls in line with the other girls on their way to the matchmaker. Her first instance of rebellion is accidental—the matchmaker calls her an unworthy bride and she leaves without getting engaged. This is a big deal in ancient Chinese society, as a woman’s status depends entirely on her husband. Without the promise of a husband, Mulan’s social status falls and she shames her family. This is a perfect example of the hand of man controlling a woman’s life; a male-dominated society pins its women down with shame and disrespect if they cannot or will not follow a man’s rules.
The incident with the matchmaker leads Mulan to question her worth as a woman and a human being. When she finds out her handicapped father has been called to the war, she makes her move—she steals his armor and sword and takes his place in the army. This leads to many humorous situations in the movie as she tries to fit in with “the guys” while keeping her feminine identity a secret. At that time, it was forbidden for women to fight in the army, and any woman found sneaking in would be executed. War was, and still is for the most part, considered “a man’s game.” Men believe women should stay home and cook and clean while they go off and beat each other’s faces in. This sort of ideology was illustrated in the movie through the song “A Girl Worth Fighting for” in which the men sang about their perfect lady; when Mulan tried to jump in with her two cents (“How ‘bout a girl who’s got a brain, who always speaks her mind?”), the men immediately dismissed her idea (Mulan). When Mulan is exposed as a woman, the emperor’s advisor immediately calls for her execution; however, her life is spared because the captain of her unit owes her his life, but she is still abandoned on the mountain to freeze.
Once Mulan is seen as a woman again, she runs into roadblocks as she tries to warn the capital of the approaching Hun forces. She is blatantly ignored and her warnings are laughed off. It is only when the emperor is kidnapped that Shang, her captain, grudgingly accepts her at his side as a warrior. It is at this point in the movie that the audience sees gender roles switched—the men get dolled up in makeup and dresses to distract the Hun soldiers while Mulan and Shang rescue the emperor. This can be seen as an acknowledgement on their part that Mulan is a woman and can kick as much butt as any man. The emperor acknowledges her similarly at the end of the movie—in a shocking act of respect, the emperor, who is seen as a god, bows low to a young woman. Mulan’s rebellion against her suffocating patriarchal society earned her recognition as a hero and savior of all of China.
ReplyDeleteHowever, if it weren’t for the superior male values in place, she may never have gone on this adventure at all. It is because men expect submission from women that she shamed her family by failing to get engaged and in turn joined the army to regain her family’s honor. In ancient China, a woman’s status is dependent entirely upon the men around her; having no husband at her age would have put her one of the lowest positions in the country. The similar ideals that women are delicate creatures that must be protected by men further perpetuate the cycle of the submissive female and dominant male society. Women become complacent and accept their lower-class status and even today we see women conforming to the idea that they are nothing without men.
Mulan is a girl who clearly saw the injustices against women but could not fight those injustices without shedding her womanly skin and becoming a man. Women cannot fight for their rights without being acknowledged by the patriarch. If there were no men who respect women and their rights, there is no way the female gender could break free from male control; because there was no one to fight for feminine rights, China exploited its women for many centuries. It is a sad moment when one realizes the true helplessness of women in a patriarchal society. It is because of strong and intelligent women like Mulan that societies around the world have moved to a path that is slowly recognizing gender equality.
Lynn, Steven. Texts and Contexts: Writing about Literature with Critical Theory. New York: Longman, 2011. Print.
Mulan. Dir. Tony Bancroft and Barry Cook. Perf. Lea Salonga, Eddie Murphy, and Donny Osmond. Walt Disney Pictures, 1998. Videocassette.