Tuesday, September 29, 2009

Hmmm.

Read this later

Poll: Wal-Mart symbolizes America best

A new poll conducted by 60 Minutes and Vanity Fair found that 48 percent of Americans do. Fifteen percent said it was Google, followed by Microsoft Corp. (13 percent), the NFL (6 percent) and Goldman Sachs (3 percent).

Americans also said they favor a ban on the use of food stamps to buy high-fat foods (30 percent), while 21 percent favored a fast-food tax. Five percent would like to see scales put in restaurants and 4 percent said there should be a tax credit for liposuction.

Speaking of tax credits, 51 percent of Americans said they would support a tax of 50 percent or higher on the incomes of the wealthiest millionaires, but 45 percent said they would not.

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Monday, September 21, 2009

Post-Feminism is Girls killing Girls and Boys?

Admittedly three things. 1. I should be doing my Math Homework not writing this. 2. I have not seen "Jennifer's Body", or listened to the radioshow this was on. But I will. I just want to leave some comments about this article that was tweeted my way by PRI (Public Radio International).

My first thought is, Of Course it is post-feminism. Defined, post-feminism is a critique of feminism while really agreeing with it. That is just a quick description. When I heard about "Jennifer's Body" the first thing I thought was, "Peter Podgursky made this movie, I saw chunks of the dialogue in a movie he made for grad school in the previews." But I also was seriously interested because when I hear "Jennifer's Body", I think of the Aerosmith song "Jenny's got a gun" which is also a song I relate to post-feminism. Is revenge justice? Some people think it is, and women getting revenge would be a type of feminism.

I also thought about the song "Jennifer's Body" by Hole. I love the song and it is certainly a feminist song. I think this may be the song that inspired the movie title. Girls are taught (especially with beauty) to think of their body as an object. They are taught not to "give it away". In the video, we see a We also have to deal with the functions if it in objective ways. Girls are expected to show up to school even on days their body is bleeding. They are not supposed to talk about it, and not supposed to let it stop them from being successful. "Found Pieces of Jennifer's body" are the inside things that have fallen out. We are asked to leave the variety of human experiences behind us as we become adults and human experience is defined for us. It is the nature of culture, and necessary for humans to co-exist. But with feminism we take intentional direction to what will and won't be defined for us.

I can see where the writer of this movie was inspired by Heathers, the penultimate angsty girl movie. It was shocking because it was kids killing kids, but girls did it in a much more subversive way. Emasculating the men after they were killed, and reconstructing a social order of feminine power with Veronica's outreach at the end of the movie. Heathers really is my favorite movie of all time.

So for Jennifer's Body to give women the power to kill in an especially brutal way, it is something I relate to. Not the killing, but what kind of power is in our body. Do we use it to kill, or overpower men, overtly leading them to danger, or do we keep to the expected inborn nature of kindness and nurturing women have? Becoming a reproductive woman would be the opposite of the female killing other kids.

I could keep thinking about this all day, but I really have to get back to math homework. Thoughts? Comments?
clipped from www.pri.org

Diablo Cody on horror movies and post-feminism

Diablo Cody's new movie, "Jennifer's Body," is about a demonic high school cheerleader who devours her male classmates. It's a horror movie with a comedic post-feminist twist.
The dynamics of friendship between teenage girls, which was explored in the humorously dark 1980s movie "Heathers," is at the core of "Jennifer's Body."
The theme of 'Jennifer's Body,' said Cody, is about the horror of being a teenager, "A person who is under the influence of hormones, and jealousy and society, is by nature combustible and scary and unpredictable, and I think anybody who's ever lived with a teenager knows this to be true.
"And Jennifer herself is in a special kind of hell where her self-worth completely revolves around her sexuality and who she is as a body, or a package, so that's how we began the movie."

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