Oh, this word has always made me laugh- you may say I'm immature, but I cannot help it. kinky I have always thought of it as such a sexy and grown-up word, like something wealthy middle-aged ladies bring up when out to lunch- in regards to their pool boy of course.
So to see printed neatly atop a book of poetry, hovering over a slightly, uh curvier, Barbie- made me feel a little confused. As a young girl,l I grew up with a staggering Barbie collection (my favorite was actually Teresa, Barbie's best friend- she had brown hair), thinking nothing more of my dolls as- well just that dolls. I didn't give her much thought- Oh, I also really liked Barbie's French friend (Lena? Leia?), anyway she came with paint brushes. Kinky, introduced a different side of Barbie. Denise Duhamel presented a more sexual character. Yes, sure, sometime Barbie and Ken made-out or shared a little makeshift bed, but I had never thought about Barbie's sex organs, and who would think it was a concern of Barbie's either? The book shows us Barbie's own exploration of her sexuality-or I guess you could say sexless-ness. "'Even Stephen King, who wrote the novel, and Brian DePalma, who made the film, understand the nature of female cycles better than I do, and they're human men,'" Barbie says (Duhamel, pp. 54, Barbie and Carrie).
Had I never understood Barbie's distress over the inability to be a real women?-funny I say this as our culture has implied that Barbie encompasses all that a "real woman" should. What does that say about our culture? What does that say about women? I don't know but, I still feel bad for Barbie.
I'm Waiting for My Man I'm waiting for my man Twenty-six dollars in my hand Up to Lexington, 125 Feel sick and dirty, more dead than alive I'm waiting for my man Hey, white boy, what you doin' uptown? Hey, white boy, you chasin' our women around? Oh pardon me sir, it's the furthest from my mind I'm just lookin' for a dear, dear friend of mine I'm waiting for my man Here he comes, he's all dressed in black Beat up shoes and a big straw hat He's never early, he's always late First thing you learn is you always gotta wait I'm waiting for my man Up to a Brownstone, up three flights of stairs Everybody's pinned you, but nobody cares He's got the works, gives you sweet taste Ah then you gotta split because you got no time to waste I'm waiting for my man Baby don't you holler, darlin' don't you bawl and shout I'm feeling good, you know I'm gonna work it on out I'm feeling good, I'm feeling oh so fine Until tomorrow, but that's just some other time I'm waiting for my man
Oh, what a pretty song I thought the first time I heard it. I was sitting in my DANC 171 class, and today's lesson was all about ballet. We watched this movie, Amelia, by Edourad Lock, a French-Canadian choreographer. The song seemed sad and poignant. A lonely young woman waiting for her lover. Well that's what I thought. Then my friend, Renee' sitting next to me laughed a little. "Oh I like this song," she said," The original is by the Velvet Underground." That's weird "It's about his drug dealer." oh.
Certainly changes the perspective of a song when you hear something like that. It is interesting how the whole meaning of a song can change in regards to its context or what sort of images are juxtaposed with it. In this case, the dancers and the overall sad mood of the film had led me to believe I was hearing one thing, while the original version and the lyrics sang a different tune (hahahaha. pun intended.) Their original implies something seedy and purely rock and roll. In art classes we learn about appropriation-to take exclusive possession of-in this sense we had been told, not to borrow someone else's work, but to steal it. how nice Well, that surely sounds awful, you might say; however, the intention is not to plagiarize or claim someone's work, but rather to use what they have and change it so completely you have made it your own. And I can safely say in the case of Amelia's, I'm Waiting for My Man, thorough appropriation has been achieved.
So I will be the first to admit that my title is way dramatic, but I like coming up with headings-so just let it happen.
I'm not sure if everyone noted this but in the opening credits Helen Fielding, the author of BJD, was listed a one of the screen writers for the movie. I thought this was interesting considering the altered subplot, increase in Bridget weight (she was around 10-15 heavier in the film)- among other added and altered things. Obviously, we know the world of movies is much different than that of books and some liberties had to be taken- but I do believe the focus of the movie was more about the happenings in the plot; whereas, in the book -clearly because it was a diary- the focus was on Bridget's personal and private reactions to the things going on around her. We could look at this as a manner of "forwarding" the book to the movie, although I see it more as the author and director's interpretation (are those the same things? This fancy writing lingo confuses me) into film. How would Bridget's life look to an outsider, one who could not possibly know what she was thinking. Even though, Bridget does sometimes narrate and there is writing on the screen, we forget the significance of the diary, and see Bridget as someone out in the world rather than a young woman sitting in her apartment scribbling away in her diary. As far as successfully translating the book into a movie,where the story and characters are concerned- I believe they are both accurately represented and given justice on the screen. However, I think the experience of learning Bridget's story loses someone it's charm in the film- we lose the insight of being inside Bridget's head.
Really. Some of you may have already heard of this website, but here it is for those of you who have not. We all know Twilight fans, have a range in age, but scarcely in gender(newsflash: it is a girl book). This young man took on the task of reading the Twilight saga,and on his site you he goes chapter by chapter giving the reader his review- as a 20 something guy. Most of the things on the home page are just about movie updates, etc- but if you go to the chapter tab, that is where all the good stuff is. It is interesting to get a man's perspective on a on a clearly feminine gendered writing. See what you think
Whilst choosing two articles to compare/contrast I found it extremely difficult to find a men's magazine article on the same topic as the women's magazine article I had chosen, What Everyone But You Sees About Your Body (Glamour). The article discusses how woman should love their bodies, even on "fat days" because really girls- no one notices but you. All in all it was a rather cliche women body empowerment article, one that we all may have read elsewhere. Now came the more difficult chore of finding a complimentary article in a men's magazine (we were given the option of using a different women's magazine targeted to another age group, etc; however let's be honest women of all ages worrying about the same list of things), and I have to say I searched and searched. Had I known we would have had to compare/contrast the two- I could have read ahead on the syllabus, I guess- I would have cheated and picked a less pointedly female article. Men-as I understand from general observation- do not discuss body image or "loving/hating their bodies" while hanging out with their friends and certainly not in places like Men's Health and Gentleman's Quarterly, two magazine I view as the equivalent of the girl's Glamour or Cosmopolitan. So there I was, no body image article chalked full of empowerment and vague acceptance for my abundant hip width, left to stretch comparisons between my Glamour article and What You Really Need to Know About American Whiskey or 20 Awesome Tips on How to Score Some Boss Biceps (okay I might have made that one up-but it is pretty accurate). Obviously, men and women magazines are marketed towards different groups with different interests; however, this brought to my attention the differences in men and women's approach to dissatisfaction with their bodies. While women receive conflicting messages about how to deal with this- "run that butt off! but if that doesn't work, no worries, just embrace it!"- men are simply given straight forward advice on how to solve the perceived problem (skinny arms? I don't know what they worry about). The article with the closest theme I could find was, Suit Your Shape ( GQ). The article starts out ," So you're not the size of a male model- welcome to the club," becoming almost a way of saying " yea, so what you have a beer gut? get over it and don't be a sissy-but here are some awesome suits for work." They even call the different shapes "celebrated." I'm not sure about you, but never have I read about a celebrated pear, or apple shape, and if you are a women you certainly know which one you are. The article in Glamour, What Everyone But You Sees About Your Body, clearly has the best intentions and offers some good points (match each negative thought about your body with a positive one); comparing these two articles makes clear men and women's very different attitudes towards their bodies. While the ladies push hard to over come their insecurities through positive thoughts and talking it out, men, at least publicly, quickly address the issue and give you bullet point instructions on how to fix the problem. Women still have the history long handle on the emotional approach- using words like "love" and " body-confidence" and men have pretty much got the straight-forward approach down pat -" style" and "fit." Whether or not what we see in these articles is really what goes on in a person head depending on their sex is questionable. This becomes more about what the writers think their readers want to hear depending on their sex- how each gender is reeled in and treated by the author, as a neurotic ball of insecurity or a man looking for some nice fitting pants. Well are you a woman or a man?
Here is an interesting story I found online. It is a personal writing about a woman working in an abortion clinic and how it relates to her views on feminism.
I'm positive you are all stoked to be here, and don't tell me otherwise because that would just hurt my feelings.
My name is Clarissa (however I am more commonly referred to as Clare), and I have set up this blog as part of my Junior Composition class (more commonly referred to as Women & Writing). In my postings I will be writing about class discussions, class readings, as well as my opinions and outlook on each.
To kick things off:
What is the distinction between public & private writing?
At its simplest we can divide these two as to where each writing is taking place. Public writing may be published writing- what we read in text books and the articles we read the newspaper. Private writing, on the other hand, might be things we write in our journals/diaries or on the wall of a bathroom stall (after all that is a very private place). More specifically, it is what we write, or how we are expected to, in these separate realms that create the distinction. Public writing is often that which we aim towards an audience. We may appeal to their academic side or try an enable a reaction from the reader. Private writing is things we do not intend others to see (well except for that bathroom wall thing- perhaps that is public writing after all). The author does not have an audience in mind and writes only for themselves. If we look at books such as, Bridget Jones's Diary, we see a clear example of private writing (that ironically, we all have access to). In her book the author, Helen Fielding, chooses a style in which there are no inhibitions, and through her character, Bridget, she can create a deeply personal and blatantly honest text. We can perhaps assume then, that while writing a private text, the author is more honest and open- less restricted to what is socially acceptable and others' feelings. Which brings to mind the question: while reading public writings how honest is author being? and what are they really feeling? It would be wrong to assume all published writers are liars with a secret agenda; however, there may be something under the surface of the visible text. Something the writer had wished to express, but because of social confines had to modify or eliminate their opinion all together.
I hope my rambling wasn't too awful! Until next time - Clare
