Performance Piece

 

Blowing out my Birthday 

Understanding Patriarchy

“To indoctrinate boys into the rules of patriarchy, we force them to feel pain and to deny their feelings” (22) 

“Most of us learned the patriarchal attitudes in our own family origin, and they were usually taught to us by our mothers.” (23) 

The Oppositional Gaze

“Many feminist film critics  continue to structure their discourse as though it speaks about “women” when in actuality it speaks only about white women” (123)

“Power as domination reproduces itself in different locations employing similar apparatuses, strategies, and mechanisms of control” (115)

    In Understanding  Patriarchy, it explains that from when we are children to when we are adults we learn and follow the rules of patriarchy whether we realize it or not. Our parents may unknowingly teach it and it is present in our society, school, and work lives. This chapter adds emphasis to how the “ideal” spectator is male, but it also emphasizes how opposing the male gaze, when can get rid of the idea that the “ideal” spectator is male. By acknowledging these things, we can start to end them.

    In the Oppositional gaze, they discuss black female spectators. Black women are represented as less than in films. Black women are also ignored by “feminist” film critics because in reality they only care about white women. Black films are normally critiqued by their race rather than gender, unlike white films. In white films, black women are dehumanized and in films created by black men, black women are under the male gaze. Black female spectators are pushing the stereotypes that the media has created about them, and instead, create new stories that change their narratives. Changing the stereotypical stories about black women can also change how black women view and feel about themselves.