As you might know, members of the Writers Guild have decided to usurp the capacious streets of New York and Los Angeles protesting that fact that they are not getting a fair cut of the money made by internet re-runs and other profitable things. The major televison stations have been suffering greatly, like a knee in atrophy. Many popular television series have been postponed due to the strike, and several movies have been put on hiatus at the pinnacle of their shooting. Several major theaters in New York have lost their stagehands (the hard workers who fabricate the sets and costumes), keeping hit Broadway shows from taking the stage. But the question is, has this strike turned into more of a social gathering?
Food is now being provided by movie stars, and several celebrities even went as far as coming out to protest for a little while. Two musical acts (KT Tunstall and Alicia Keys) have even graced stages (the back of trucks) to keep the writers entertained. The writers have admitted that they are having more fun protesting than working. So, are these writers really upset, or are they just taking a vacation?
To read the article I read before writing this entry go to this link:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/26/business/media/26strike.html
Friday, December 14, 2007
Sunday, December 9, 2007
"The Waiting Room" by Lisa Loomer
"The Waiting Room" really opened my eyes to how beauty has made little progress in evolving throughout the ages. You can see perfect examples of this in the three main characters. Forgiveness From Heaven (time period: 18th century China) has had her feet tightly bound since she was a young girl, and puts up with the pain of loosing her toes (and her husband to other wives) just to make her husband happy. Victoria (time period: Victorian ages) is secured into her corset each day, and tolerates her organs being clamped together as well as letting everyone walk over her. Finally you have Wanda (time period: modern day) who is nearing forty years of age, and thinks the only way she'll be married within the next few months is to surgically enhance her body with breast implants, liposuction, and various other treatments. As you can see, all of these women are attempting to enhance their bodies to make themselves "beautiful"; and each one suffers the consequence. Forgiveness looses toes; Victoria is forced by her husband to get a hysterectomy because he believe her female organs are causing her hysteria; and Wanda goes through an ordeal with cancer because of her fake breasts.
On the surface, Lisa Loomer's play is a comedy, but when you get to dig deeper into the plot, you see how deep her words truly are. The part of the play I found the most moving was Wanda's monologue in the last scene. It summarized the play in a way that really made you think about our society's position on "beauty". She speaks about "three stupid sisters" (a.k.a. the three main characters) and how they went to a magician and asked him to make them beautiful, and when their beauty wore off he told them "I said I'd make you perfect. I didn’t say I'd make you perfect forever". She then goes on to talk about how the three sisters smashed all the mirrors in the kingdom and advised all the women about their beauty, always telling them that they looked fine. In a way, she describes a "perfect world" where everyone believes that they are beautiful for what's on the inside, not for what's on the surface.
This play is not only a play about what beauty has become, but also an insight on the government's role in health care. The two static characters that represent this are Ken and Larry; representatives from a major drug company as well as the FDA. They are constantly fighting over new cures on the market, several of which are yet to be proven. Their fights consist of two main sides; should we approve this treatment so we can potentially help more people, or should we not approve it in order to make more money?
In the end, our main characters are "freed" from their inability to see beauty past the surface. Victoria goes back to her strict society, but no longer takes orders from her husband, Oliver who wanted to stop her from reading. She remains in a corset, but does not abide by her time periods image of beauty being a quiet, obedient wife. Wanda finally realizes that she doesn't have to make herself aesthetically beautiful in order to fall in love. She finally accepts the fact that she has cancer, and realizes that you only get to live once, and wasting time on making yourself "beautiful" is wasting precious time you could be using for a new experience. I think that if the play were to continue, she would explore the world of cancer treatments, and allow herself to take her time and live each say as if it were her last. Forgiveness From Heaven is a difficult character to sum up because in the end you are unsure of weather or not she is dead, or just asleep. In my point of view, I believe her to be dead, and freed from worry about her mutated feet and unfaithful husband. I thought that leaving us to think about where the women would go from here was a very good ending to the play because you get to see each character's problem resolved (to a certain extent) and you know that what goes on from there doesn't matter. The three characters finally understand what they have been missing in life, and you know that none of the ladies are going to let anyone push them around or tell them how to be beautiful.
On the surface, Lisa Loomer's play is a comedy, but when you get to dig deeper into the plot, you see how deep her words truly are. The part of the play I found the most moving was Wanda's monologue in the last scene. It summarized the play in a way that really made you think about our society's position on "beauty". She speaks about "three stupid sisters" (a.k.a. the three main characters) and how they went to a magician and asked him to make them beautiful, and when their beauty wore off he told them "I said I'd make you perfect. I didn’t say I'd make you perfect forever". She then goes on to talk about how the three sisters smashed all the mirrors in the kingdom and advised all the women about their beauty, always telling them that they looked fine. In a way, she describes a "perfect world" where everyone believes that they are beautiful for what's on the inside, not for what's on the surface.
This play is not only a play about what beauty has become, but also an insight on the government's role in health care. The two static characters that represent this are Ken and Larry; representatives from a major drug company as well as the FDA. They are constantly fighting over new cures on the market, several of which are yet to be proven. Their fights consist of two main sides; should we approve this treatment so we can potentially help more people, or should we not approve it in order to make more money?
In the end, our main characters are "freed" from their inability to see beauty past the surface. Victoria goes back to her strict society, but no longer takes orders from her husband, Oliver who wanted to stop her from reading. She remains in a corset, but does not abide by her time periods image of beauty being a quiet, obedient wife. Wanda finally realizes that she doesn't have to make herself aesthetically beautiful in order to fall in love. She finally accepts the fact that she has cancer, and realizes that you only get to live once, and wasting time on making yourself "beautiful" is wasting precious time you could be using for a new experience. I think that if the play were to continue, she would explore the world of cancer treatments, and allow herself to take her time and live each say as if it were her last. Forgiveness From Heaven is a difficult character to sum up because in the end you are unsure of weather or not she is dead, or just asleep. In my point of view, I believe her to be dead, and freed from worry about her mutated feet and unfaithful husband. I thought that leaving us to think about where the women would go from here was a very good ending to the play because you get to see each character's problem resolved (to a certain extent) and you know that what goes on from there doesn't matter. The three characters finally understand what they have been missing in life, and you know that none of the ladies are going to let anyone push them around or tell them how to be beautiful.
Thursday, December 6, 2007
Faerie Tale Morals.
A faerie tale is a harmless children's story that ends with happily ever after, right? Well, maybe not. Tell me, how many times have you driven past a tall tower in which a alarmingly beautiful princess was trapped? If you've seen such a scene, how many times have you then seen an overly charming prince riding upon a brilliant steed canter up to the tower to set her free? And of course afterwards the couple fall madly in love with each other and are wed the next day.
This is the image a faerie tale implants into a child's mind. It teaches our boys that they are the dominant gender, and that they can easily get whatever girl they want to fall in love with them. It teaches girls that beauty and wealth are the only things that will get them what they want in the world; it shows them that males are the ones who are here to save and solve problems. Are these the things we really want to be etched into the minds of our future generations? Is there even a way to solve said problem? How could you ever stop a parent from reading their child a faerie tale in which good always conquers evil?
This is the image a faerie tale implants into a child's mind. It teaches our boys that they are the dominant gender, and that they can easily get whatever girl they want to fall in love with them. It teaches girls that beauty and wealth are the only things that will get them what they want in the world; it shows them that males are the ones who are here to save and solve problems. Are these the things we really want to be etched into the minds of our future generations? Is there even a way to solve said problem? How could you ever stop a parent from reading their child a faerie tale in which good always conquers evil?
Wednesday, December 5, 2007
Trends, Culture, Models, and Figure.
On Monday I took part in a seminar where we discussed an article found on the BBC website. In this article the author goes over the growing trends that have started to spill out of America to terrorize the rest of the world. Products are now available to make you thin, make your hair "perfect", even to make you skin whiter. Girls across the world dream of the day they to can look like the model posing for Coach and Abercrombie.
We discussed several controversial matters including that of beauty when it comes to race. We went around the table and shared what we thought beauty meant to our dominant culture. It was interesting to hear how each culture differed. Some cultures prefer a full figured body, others embrace a certain body part, we even touched on how long a women would keep up the work to keep her body in shape. Several people said that they thought that when a women of their culture reached a certain age they were allowed to in a way, “let themselves go”.
Another hot topic was that of how the media encouraged the stereotypical image of beauty. We talked about how shows like “America’s Next Top Model” always say they believe in having “full-figured models” (in other words plus-sized) on the show, and swear that these girls have just as good of chance as the others of winning. But, have you ever seen one of these girls actually win? Have you ever even seen these girls make it half way? It’s things like this that show you what the media really wants to show as beautiful.
The one part of the article I appreciated was the part about Helen of Troy and Cleopatra. These two famous historical fugures are said to be the most beautiful women to have ever lived. But as the article said, “t is true that we have no idea of what it was about Helen of Troy's face that enabled it to "launch a thousand ships", nor do we know what one of the world's most beautiful queens, Cleopatra, actually looked like.” A concept that will truly make you rethink the meaning of “beautiful”.
We discussed several controversial matters including that of beauty when it comes to race. We went around the table and shared what we thought beauty meant to our dominant culture. It was interesting to hear how each culture differed. Some cultures prefer a full figured body, others embrace a certain body part, we even touched on how long a women would keep up the work to keep her body in shape. Several people said that they thought that when a women of their culture reached a certain age they were allowed to in a way, “let themselves go”.
Another hot topic was that of how the media encouraged the stereotypical image of beauty. We talked about how shows like “America’s Next Top Model” always say they believe in having “full-figured models” (in other words plus-sized) on the show, and swear that these girls have just as good of chance as the others of winning. But, have you ever seen one of these girls actually win? Have you ever even seen these girls make it half way? It’s things like this that show you what the media really wants to show as beautiful.
The one part of the article I appreciated was the part about Helen of Troy and Cleopatra. These two famous historical fugures are said to be the most beautiful women to have ever lived. But as the article said, “t is true that we have no idea of what it was about Helen of Troy's face that enabled it to "launch a thousand ships", nor do we know what one of the world's most beautiful queens, Cleopatra, actually looked like.” A concept that will truly make you rethink the meaning of “beautiful”.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)