Animated Movies and Young Children

I think that animated movies and shows do influence young children to a certain point but are not necessarily the major contribution to what shapes a young child. I grew up watching cartoons like Looney Toon's and Tom and Jerry every night with my family. I remember all of us sitting together in the living room after dinner laughing at all the simple humor. I never once thought that those shows were anything but all good and fun. Perhaps I was subconsciously influenced by certain characters or actions but I believe that most of the influences came from what my parents or older brother had to say about the cartoons. If  my parents would have pointed out the fact that many of my childhood shows were racist, maybe I would have began to see the racism. I believe I was unaware of the harsh reality of the jokes because I didn't know that racism even existed.

As a child I could not get enough of the Disney Princess movies either. I think those movies had the most influence on me because I felt like I related to the Princesses. Cinderella, The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, and Aladdin all convinced me that there was a chance that I would marry a Prince one day and we would live happily ever after. These movies influenced me as a child without even realizing it and they are definitely still influencing children today.

Impressions on Children

I think that children are very influenced by what they view and hear in certain cartoon programs and movies.  I think that nowadays a lot of the cartoon programs subtly insert racist or homosexual content into their television programs.  Many children animated movies today have sexual innuendos that many children may not understand but are subconsciously ingested into their minds.

Another argument is about violent content on cartoon programs, because children can learn and inherit these tendencies at such a young age.  Many programs on networks such as Disney Channel and Cartoon Network portray violent and prejudice content in their television shows.

I do think that a lot of the content is taken in on a subconscious level, because I only really understand the violent or racist content nowadays when I process the television programs with a full scope of understanding.

Animation's Influence on Kids

I definitely believe that animated films and shows have an effect on kids and young adults, but not as much as people like to believe. When I was a kid, I watched shows like Tom & Jerry, and Looney Tunes. It never occurred to me that these shows were racist because back then I, and many other kids I presume, couldn’t wrap my brain the concept of racial or gender stereotypes. I watched those shows solely because I thought they were hilarious.

But, as I watch some of these shows now, I definitely understand some of the racial jokes and stereotypes that are associated with different characters. We didn’t discuss this in class but I remembered a show on the Disney Channel that was very much racist, The Proud Family. I never realized how racist this show was until I watched an episode online recently and every other joke was a racial stereotype. I don’t know if anyone is familiar with this show but when I was younger, I thought it was so funny because of the funny facial expressions the characters made, the way they talked, and the way they portrayed certain characters. Having watched it now, many many years later, I actually feel bad for laughing at the jokes that were on this show. Oops.

Influence of Animation

I believe that animated films or TV shows most definitely have the power to shape the impressions of young people, but only to a certain extent.  Children are a lot smarter than people give them credit for, but to assume that kids understand the deeper meanings that a lot of these cartoons present is absurd to me.  We discussed in class how most of the shows we grew up watching as kids such as Tom and Jerry and The Looney Tunes were first produced during a time of racial segregation.  The cartoons were targeted towards adults and had several racial stereotypes mixed into the storyline as a way to entertain a mature audience that understood the deeper meaning of the jokes.

On the contrary, kids who see these cartoons are entertained by the more obvious sequences of humor.  For example, how Tom from Tom and Jerry is always getting hurt in his attempt to catch Jerry, or in The Looney Tunes, how roadrunner is always finding ways to allude Wile E's crazy contraptions. These scenes can certainly have an affect on young children because of the "monkey see, monkey do" affect.  If a kid sees violence presented in a humorous way on television, it may lead them to believe that violence is a humorous thing in real life too.  However, as far as influencing kids impressions of certain issues such as race or gender roles, I still believe that the messages, that were originally intended for adults, are too complex to shape the minds of young children.

Cartoons' Effects on Young People

It's clear that cartoons, Disney films, and other animated films play some role in shaping attitudes of the children they're directed at because of the huge controversies many of these cartoons and films  raise. For example, after Frozen came out, I read countless articles about how it was such a progressive film, challenging the notions of women's roles and relationships held by older "princess" narratives. If these films didn't influence the attitudes and mindsets of young people, so many bloggers and writers would not be compelled to point out the evolving representations of various gender, sexuality, race, etc. groups. In some ways, however, the effects these films have on children might only come to fruition when we call attention to them. Lehman spends a great deal of time talking about Tom and Jerry and the Mammy figure who appears frequently in the cartoon, but as a child who watched Tom and Jerry quite a bit, I never felt like this negative representation shaped my impression of black women simply because I was too ignorant to even understand that the cartoon was exploiting black female stereotypes in its characterizations of the maid character. Had I been aware that this was the animators' intention, I may have been more prone to adopt the mindset of believing those stereotypes to be true. Overall, I think the degree to which children are shaped by cartoons depends, to some extent, on how much they know about the issues and stereotypes present in the cartoons, but more often than not, I think young kids are going to be more concerned with whether the mouse escapes the cat's schemes or whether the evil villain is defeated and the kingdom saved.

I wish I could have found the video clip, but here's an image from Disney's Frozen that I think demonstrates changing attitudes towards under-represented or stereotyped groups in children's films. I think it also demonstrates that filmmakers are recognizing how much power they have in shaping children's attitudes. Oaken is the male shopowner in Frozen and this is his family.

animated films

I believe that animated films do have some power in shaping the impressions of young children. When children are growing up they are very susceptive to picking things up around them. They are at a crucial age when what they see and hear is what shapes who they are and how they act. TV has different rating on their shows for a reason. For example the Simpsons is an animated show, but is rated for more mature audiences because of the content and language. Also like we talked about in class, Disney movies are intended for little kids and give them false beliefs. Little girls are taught to wait for their prince to come riding up to save them from distress and that they will live happily ever after. Children may not see the hidden messages in some of these films but they will pick up on what is shown plain and  clear.

Crisis of Manhood

There are many reasons pointed out in the chapters about why masculinity is in crisis. Kimmel describes the crisis of contemporary manhood as being something created out of the pressures for a man to live up to specific ideas about what it means to be a man. The idea of the Masculine Mystique, was created in the 1960s to group men as being sober, a responsible breadwinner, the master of his own fate and a hero. Even if this was eventually deemed as being false, it still planted a seed inside the minds of men. For example, in work, the strive that defined the Self-Made Man was no longer the shining star after fears and anxieties became more prevalent. Even to the point where Kimmel says that being a self-made man, was the cause to an early death. Which isn’t a very motivating. But since they were seen as needing to be the breadwinner of the family, men carried on with the relentless competitiveness and strive.

I wouldn’t necessarily say that masculinity is in crisis. At the time when things were beginning to change, in terms of things like the wimp and what it meant to be a man, I could see how people would worry a bit. But nowadays there is such diversity between how masculine (tough) or feminine (sensitive) a man is, especially with the rise of acceptance towards gays. Although I do agree with Kimmel that when women became more prominent and basically redefined the responsibility of the man being the sole breadwinner, masculinity took the hit.

Manhood in Crisis

In his book, Kimmel states that contemporary manhood is in crisis. He describes that this crisis takes place in both the workplace and the household. Not only are men expected to make more money and "bring home the bacon," they are also expected to teach their son football, be wealthy and successful, have a fit body, and have a somewhat active sex life with their significant other. Society has the idea that if a man cannot live up to these expectations and "requirements" to be a manly man, you're considered feminine, thus turning women off.

I definitely think that manhood is in crisis. When society puts men under enormous pressure to act, look, talk, and work a certain way, they are bound to break down. Now when you add women into the picture, with women starting to climb up the social ladder in the workplace, while taking care of the household, men may start questioning their manhood. There is always the notion that the man in the relationship/marriage should make more money, be more fit, while still being a good man or husband/father in the household.

Manhood Crisis

Kimmel describes masculinity in a way that shows the reader that men were under a lot of pressure to be successful, not only in the workplace, but also at home. Father's instilled these same ideas to their sons early on; they taught them that they needed to be tough and not be a wimp, which in turn gave these boys the idea that they could not show their emotions for fear of being made fun of. 

Another thing that caused men to feel the need to prove their masculinity is the fact that women were starting to enter the workforce and were competing with men for jobs. This made men think that if they were now working with women, they were losing part of their manhood because they were doing the same jobs as women. 

With the feminist movement, masculinity was put into further crisis because so much attention was being put on women so men felt the need to overcompensate their masculinity through their work and providing for their family, and they were seen as assholes that only wanted money and success.

                                                                 The Crisis of Manhood

A variety of changes have taken place in the American ideal of masculinity of the course of the last 150 years. In the 20th century American men found themselves burdened by the ideals of masculinity including; the workplace, their roles as fathers and heads of households, and their drive for power, wealth and success. According to Kimmel, these moments were the first that self made masculinity became under siege. Males in the work place found themselves bogged down by restrictions placed on them by societal expectations, and sought better options in which they could maintain a certain level on masculinity. Many mens liberation groups of this time period felt that "men would live longer, happier, and healthier lives, lives characterized by close and caring relationships with children, with women, and with other men. These groups sought to liberate men from their role as males which had been predefined by generational experience.

I certainly agree with Kimmel. The male liberation movement of this time saw men being destroyed by expectations of their gender, and sought to allow men to move past the previous expectations that had handcuffed them into their societal place.

The Manhood Crisis

Masculinity described by Kimmel involves a lot of pressure that can be too much for men to live up to.  Problems such as work, being a good dad, and even competing for success are all expectations for male figures and they have to do it at a high level to be seen as a real man. Kimmel discussed how men's role being a bread winner in the 1960s brought few rewards and left men feeling stuck in the stereotypical business industry, which I find interesting because this is the time the Feminine Mystique came about discussing the opposite role of women being forced into the role of motherhood and housewife. This proves that expectations for both men and women were unrealistic - men becoming angry and women anxious. Masculinity was brought into boys' lives very early on. The idea of the wimp brought negative notions on men who were sensitive, eager to please, and looked upon as weak. Men always are trying to prove their manliness whether in the sports field, workplace, and military but I think they see themselves falling short if they don't prove their ego right, time and time again. "We're pumping up and working out obsessively to make our bodies impervious masculine machines, carving and sculpting these bodily works-inprogress, while we adorn ourselves with signifiers of a bygone era of unchallenged masculinity, donning Stetson cologne, Chaps clothing, and Timberland boots as we drive our Cherokees and Denalis to conquer the urban jungle" (Kimmel, 238). This quote says a lot about never obtaining their goal, always being a "work-inprogress" and about being casually masculine when some effort is put into that persona.  

I found this video that someone posted on Facebook, which is about how harmful three simple words can be - "be a man." The video touches not only on the idea of being tough and learning to restrain emotions at an early age but also that boys and eventually man turn to aggression rather than dealing with the real issue. The video shows that aggression looks like misconduct or a troublemaking kid but in reality could be a boy who has just been taught to deal with his emotions that way.

https://sftimes.co/?id=131&src=share_fb_new_131

Manhood Crisis

Kimmel talks about a manhood crisis in the context that men will never live up to the idea of a perfect man and perfect type of manhood.  Most of Chapter 8 talks about the idea of feminism in relation to masculinity.  The idea that if you did not live up to the masculine credentials, then you were considered more of a feminine man.  He also presents the idea that women will not like a wimpy man and think that he is not masculine enough.  All of the points he makes brings it back to the idea that men aren't able to live up to the idea of a "Perfect Man."

I think that there is definitely a lot of pressure put on the modern man to conform to certain masculine traits in order to fit in.  I think this type of conformity can be seen as a modern crisis.  I agree that there is a type of crisis for manhood, especially in modern times.  With so many types of media and advertisements there are so many outlets for men to be told what to do and how to act.  When men aren't acting in this certain "way" then they are seen as more feminine and less masculine and therefore will be looked at differently in society.

Contemporary Manhood is in "Crisis"

In these couple of chapters Kimmel argues that the contemporary manhood is in crisis, meaning that it is in trouble of becoming almost extinct and more and more feminized. He brings up the idea of "masculine mystique", saying that there is this complicated list of things that a true man should be or be able to do, but this list is almost impossible for any one man to be able to achieve. Thus he is saying the "masculine mystique" is simply a myth or unattainable. When Kimmel brings up the idea that feminism has also contributed to contemporary manhood being in crisis, he says that feminism has in a sense feminized or domesticated the man in the sense that he does not have much control within the private sphere of his home where the woman stays to raise the children while the man is out at work. He also says that during the feminist movement women were starting to venture out of the private sphere of just staying home and going out into the public sphere to be able to work alongside the men. The fact that the women were starting to gain more power and momentum gave the contemporary man a feeling that he was losing a grip on his manhood.  

Crisis for Modern Manhood

Michael Kimmel argues that contemporary manhood is in "crisis" due to several different factors.  One of the reasons that I found most interesting was the "feminazi" argument that Kimmel brings up on page 217.  He states that men experience feminism as an "emasculating force, for it exaggerates that familiar sense of unmanly guilt" (217).  I think the point that Kimmel is trying to make here is that women are taking advantage of the oppression that they faced and turning that guilt that men feel into the oppression of men.  Women have this sense of "entitlement" because of the struggles that they faced at the hands of men.  As one writer put it on page 218, women had always "intimidated me, loaded me with guilt, and exploited or shamed me" (218). Men were feeling unmasculine because of this guilt that was being thrust upon them by the feminist movement.

I agree with Kimmel's "feminazi" argument, and that it does contribute to the crisis of manhood.  Before the feminist movement, the oppression of women was not done out of spite or revenge, it was simply the cultural belief that men were more fit to participate in the workforce and politics. Now that the tables have turned, and it is men that are being oppressed by the guilt bestowed upon them by women, they are taking the roles that have traditionally been filled by women.  No longer are men entitled to a job while their wives stay home with the kids.  Also, the growing acceptance of homosexuality is allowing men to shy away from the traditional "tough guy" role and be accepted in a more sensitive role.  

 

Manhood in crisis

     Kimmel says that contemporary manhood is crisis in a number of different ways for a number of different reasons.  Today men are having to find new ways to be manly because the "normal" ways aren't working.  The job market sucks according to him for a number of different reasons.  It sucks because men and women are working and not receiving enough money to sustain themselves, they are forced into debt to get things like houses which basically makes them slaves to their employers; having both men and women working leads to nobody at home to raise the kids and that leaves educational institutions to raise the children.  When the job market isn't manly men go to other outlets to find their place in manhood and masculinity.  On page 225 he says, "at the turn of the century and today- and men's sporadic interest in the body was prompted, I believe, by the collapse of the workplace as an area in which to test and prove masculinity."  Because when men can't make enough money, then it has to be about the body and muscles and superficial things (not that money isn't superficial either, just to clarify).
    I think that manhood is definitely in crisis for reasons he mentions throughout the book in short, yes... I agree.  I think that men are treated like retarded puppies that need a women to tell them what to do or else they would just be stupid, lazy, slobs that don't know how to take care of themselves.  This can be seen in a number of TV shows, commercials, and movies.  I think men get the shaft when it comes to custody over children, having to pay child support, abortion, jail sentences, domestic abuse scenarios, conscription (especially since women vote to have men die at their whim).  Last but not least I agree when William Muehl, a retired professor from Yale, when he says on page 218, "The way young women dress in the spring constitutes a sexual assault upon every male within eyesight of them."  It is along the lines of "miniskirt power, cleavage power, and flirtation power." (p.220)  that is suppressing men and is out to make them feel guilty for finding women attractive.  I could go on forever, but I'll just leave you with a few pictures.

Masculinity in crisis

Kimmel argues that contemporary masculinity as we know it is in crisis. He gives many different reasons but highlights both the masculine mystique and feminism. All of chapter 8 discusses the masculine mystique and the pressures it places on a man to be and do everything. Kimmel defines "masculine mystique" as "the impossible synthesis of sober, responsible breadwinner, imperviously stoic master of his fate, and swashbuckling hero" (190). Basically a list or long combination of ideals many men absolutely won't live up to.  His explanation makes it obvious that the idea of men achieving the masculine mystique was ridiculous. Kimmel also explains that feminism contributed to putting contemporary manhood in crisis. or at least making a change to manhood. During the feminist movement many men felt oppressed or as though they were misunderstood because the voices of the women were louder. During the feminist movement they were also shown as insensitive money hungry businessmen whose only interest was providing for his family, while the woman's job was to care for the family. To Kimmel this was a crisis because men didn't want to be seen this way but also found it difficult to show a different side to themselves. This quote pretty much sums the argument up, "...middle class masculinity had become the butt of humor, not the object of veneration" (209).

Kimmel says that one way our contemporary manhood is in crisis is because our cultural media supports the same contradictions that are realistic in every day life for men. Starting on page 235, he talks about how popular music specifically reflects the different contradictions that men face while trying to obtain their own idea of a perfect man. The song "Born in the U.S.A" by Bruce Springsteen is well known to all American's; it is played at sport events and chanted by crowds, but most don't know or realize that the rest of the lyrics are not so pro-America. I looked up the lyrics to "Born in the U.S.A" and one verse sings, "Got in a little hometown jam, so they put a rifle in my hand, sent me off to a foreign land, to go and kill the yellow man" (AZ Lyrics). Before looking up the lyrics to the song, I had always been under the impression that the song was very patriotic. Like Kimmel says, the song is very upbeat and leads you to believe you are hearing something wonderful, instead our ears are fooling us to believe lies (Kimmel, pg 235-237).

Manhood in Crisis

According to Kimmel, manhood is in crisis for a number of reasons, including the realization that the masculine mystique is an impossible combination of ideals and the perceived oppression men suffered as a result of the rise of feminism. The crisis, then, arises when men are put under pressures and held to expectations that they cannot conceivably meet. The myths and illusions created by cultural elements practically shoved in a man's face from boyhood lead to what Bruce Springsteen's experience symbolizes (and what Kimmel documents in the close of chapter 9): "America let[ting] him down" (236). And eventually, Kimmel argues, this results in a kind of escapism that defines the crisis of modern American masculinity. Ultimately, escaping the domestic will inevitably lead to further discontent as a man.

I looked up the "Born to Run" song (I'd never heard it before), and found this skit. It's sort of long but worth it because it has Jimmy Fallon in it and is (mostly) free of Bruce Springsteen, who, let's be honest, can't really sing (sorry, Springsteen fans): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s2d9UecusfQ

Contemporarty Manhood

Kimmel believes that contemporary manhood is in a crisis. He thinks that because people are changing then there is a problem. I think that he is right that manhood is changing, but it isn't a problem. In chapter 8 he talks about how men want to change to have different roles, and that different groups of people are viewed as less masculine based on some of their features. I think that in the past this may have been true, but now people are more accepting. Manhood is on its way out the door and people are accepting one another for who they are. One example of this is in sports. Athletes are seen as role models for children. Before people would have to hide their sexuality so they wouldn't be attacked or harassed. Now male professional athletes are coming out and admitting to being homosexual. This doesn't make them more masculine in their sport. Jason Collins and Michael Sam are two big examples. Jason has been playing in the NBA for almost 18 years, while Michael is entering the NFL draft. Both these men have had successful careers. Even though they are gay doesn't make them any less masculine in their sports.