Vlog Post 3- Movie-- Beyond Good and Evil--Violence in Children's Media

 

Aacap. “American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. .” Video Games and Children: Playing with Violence, https://www.aacap.org/AACAP/Families_and_Youth/Facts_for_Families/FFF-Guide/Children-and-Video-Games-Playing-with-Violence-091.aspx.

Thiesfeld, Rik. “Violent Video Games: What Parents Need to Know.” Violent Video Games: What Parents Need to Know, https://www.sandiegofamily.com/parenting/violent-video-games-what-parents-need-to-know.

Gender Codes and Normative Power

Gender Codes 

FreePiks

    The film "The Codes of Gender" written and directed by MEF Executive Director Sut Jhally, applies the late sociologist Erving Goffman's seminal theory of advertising to today's commercial world, demonstrating how one of the most influential forms of American popular culture transmits normative beliefs about masculinity and gender. Goffman's key premise that gender norms are the outcome of ritualized cultural performance is explored in stunning visual detail in The Codes of Gender, which reveals a fascinating pattern of masculine and feminine displays and stances. To present a clear-eyed vision of the two-tiered terrain of identity and power relations, it looks beyond advertising as a medium that just sells items, and beyond gender studies that focus on biological differences or issues of objectification and beauty. The film explains that 

Created by Sana Mumtaz

throughout history, both men and women have been subjected to conventional gender roles. Gender roles are cultural practices that are considered for men and women in society. These roles are created by gender rules and can be found in every section of society. Also, Gender roles in men are created by masculine norms, but these codes are created by women and women's duties. Men are seen compensating for women's lack of features by being powerful, self-assured, and competitive. For example, males appear strong because of their face and eye contact, but women next to them appear delicate, causing the idea that men defend women or that women require men's protection to be raised in people's minds.

FreePiks

Visual Codes within Class

    Overall society has taught us what gender should look like, but also what color, ethnicity, social class, and other social classifications should look like. When it comes to movies/shows portraying a race or ethnicity and making sure that the audience is aware of it, they will show the character stereotypical qualities of that race or ethnicity. According to an article called What Factors Really Influence Identity by Y Studios, our personal identity refers to how we see ourselves, whereas our social identity refers to how others see us. Within our town, school, career, or any community environment, people recognize us by our qualities. Each person will be identified by these qualities, and then placed in a collective group with others who have those characteristics. Our marital, financial, occupational, religious, or behavioral status may define some aspects of our social identities. 

    Similarly, an article called People in Higher Social Class Has An Exaggerated Belief That They Are More Capable Than Others by the American Psychological Association states that people who see themselves as belonging to a higher social class may have an exaggerated belief that they are more capable than their equally capable lower-class counterparts and that overconfidence can often be misinterpreted by others as greater competence in critical situations like job interviews. According to Peter BelAmi, of the University of Virginia and lead author of the study, explains that “Advantages beget advantages. Those who are born in upper-class echelons are likely to remain in the upper class, and high-earning entrepreneurs disproportionately originate from highly educated, well-to-do families. This is In comparison to the middle class, they are socialized to differentiate themselves from others. They are able to express what they think, and also their ideas and opinions even if they lack accurate knowledge. 

Foucault's Concepts 

    According to Foucault, normative power is everywhere, comes from everywhere, and affects everyone. From society, we learn that a woman is weak, powerless, and delicate. A man is portrayed as powerful, self-assured, and competitive. Foucault believes that culture shapes who you are and what you consider to be normal, proper, and good. Another thing we can take a look at is Foucault's concept of power as a source of social conformity and discipline. Foucault explains that relates to our "capabilities to recognize, and question socialized norms and constraints". This relates to visual codes because we are raised in certain circumstances that come to identify our visual codes. This includes gender, race, class, etc. As we grow older and gain more knowledge we gain the ability to question these codes that have been "assigned" to us. This reminds me of how Foucault explains that power does not repress, rather it produces, and one of the things it produces is a sense of reality. 

Thank you for reading my blog post on Gender Codes and Normative Power! I hope you enjoyed my insight on its connection to Foucalt. 

- Sana 

About me and the Theory of Power.

 The Concept: "Power is Everywhere"

Hello everyone,

My name is Sana Mumtaz. I live in Los Angeles, California. I'm a senior at Webster University and my major is Business Management. I currently work for the accounting department of a small business. After graduating I plan to pursue my Master's degree in Human resources. 

My Passion for Language and Culture

My (left) last dinner in Pakistan, 2000

Growing up I was very interested in learning about different cultures. My family is from Pakistan and I moved to Southern California very young. Thankfully my parents encouraged my siblings and me to have a strong relationship with our culture. I speak Urdu fluently and I am currently learning how to write it as well. One major characteristic that follows culture is language. It has the power to connect people from different religions, countries, and backgrounds. 

Foucault's Theory of Power 

Created by Sana Mumtaz, "Language is Powerful"
in English, Russian, Korean, Urdu, Turkish

The power theory connects deeply to how humans interact with one another and social discipline. According to Gaventa (2003:2), Michel Foucalt places a great emphasis on how power is an everyday socialised and embodied phenomenon. According to Foucault, power has an important role in social discipline and conformity. His approach to power is that it goes beyond politics to see power as a daily, socialized, and lived reality. He points out how norms can be so deeply established that they are invisible to us and cause us to self-discipline with any pressure from others.  Foucault uses the terms power/knowledge to indicate that power is derived from established norms of knowledge, and scientific understanding and truth. This is established in Language and Power  by Sik Hung Ng and Fei Deng, when the topic of language and power relationships arises. Power has the ability to unite, divide, and create influence.

Pixabay

One of the things that stands out to me is how language can be percieved by people of different religions, cultures, and identites. There are many universal phrases that mean the same thing amongst different countries. But the way they are said can create a different emphasis. I relate to this becasue Urdu is very simialr to Hindi. And because of this I can understand people who speak Hindi even though i myself am not Hindu or from India (where the languge is most commanly spoken). I can even watch movies and TV shows from India. This encourgaes me to learn more about the people, and their culture. I also enjoy relating them to Pakistani dramas. This is very fasinating to me, people who may have an entirely different background from myself are able to understand my native tongue. This shows me that the beauty of languge is deeper than just people who come from the same region as my family.