Blog Post 3

My question is simple at the surface, but after really considering each character individually, and then how each character is essential to another character's story, it took me a while to decide on Toby. 

My question is, if you had to choose one of the four main characters in Moxyland, which would you choose to be your favorite and why?

As I mentioned previously, Toby would be my favorite character. Since the novel surrounds the topics of consumerism, media, and powerful corporations, Toby's personality kept reinforcing the central attitude to these central ideas. There are things I like and dislike about each character, but I happened to have more dislikes when it came to Toby. In their society (and in our own in a sense), flaws take the backseat (i.e. people try to put their best pictures on facebook, cosmetic surgery, etc) whereas in these character's perspectives these flaws take the front seat. For this is the reason why I liked Toby so much because of the paradox that he is the most unlikeable, yet he is the most interesting and fun to read-an analogy for the character's real world, and their own flaw-filled world. I couldn't help but hate him, I mean "Diary of Cunt"...? He is only concerned with himself, he is very unreliable, and extremely arrogant, and yet again I could not stop thinking that I was happy his voice and presence in Moxyland was significant. 

"'You were late fifteen minutes ago, my darling,' she says by way of greeting and it's true, I've forgotten that she's scheduled one of our 'we have to talks' over a civilized brunch, but with the amount of sugar I'm doing, she's lucky I can remember that colour of my eyes without a mirror. I've told her to upload appointments to my phone. Whore." (P.17). 

I felt anger, but I also saw relevance to the world of consumption when reading this. He takes control of every situation, and it made me think of the corporations today: controlling, self-involved, and outspoken (his jacket that has images of his choice)-corporations/industries today (Facebook, Porn, etc) are only concerned with themselves and making a profit. They do not worry about the damaging affects because those who decide to participate will be the ones to deal with the consequences, and yet they control media and seem to thrive. 

Overall, I hated Toby, but his lifestyle really made me think about our society's industries, and in the end, I enjoyed his character.

Does you guys like Toby the best as well, and if so, why? If not, who would be our favorite character and why?

Lauren Ruben 

Blog Post 2

"When Simone de Beauvoir claims,"one is notborn, but, rather, becomes a woman,"
she is appropriating and reinterpreting this doctrine of constituting acts from the
phenomenological tradition.l In this sense, gender is in no way a stable identity or
locus of agency from which various acts proceede; rather, it is an identity tenuously
constituted in time-an identity instituted through a stylized repetition of acts. Further,
gender is instituted through the stylization of the body and, hence, must be understood
as the mundane way in which bodily gestures, movements, and enactments
of various kinds constitute the illusion of an abiding gendered self" (Butler 2).

I thouroughly enjoyed this article by Judith Butler. At times, some of her points were a bit confusing but I understood the main concept she was trying to get across, which is the fact that gender is an act and that we are not born a certain way. That throughout time we are formed to act a certain way. This idea reminded me of John Locke's theory that everyone is born as a blank slate and it's through life experiences that make them who they are and what they believe.

This article and theme really got me thinking about how much we do in the world and whether or not it's an act. Is everything we do and feel just a role that we're playing in society? Something that really stuck out to me was the emotion of love. Are we actually feeling the emotion of love or marriage or are they just an act. Are our emoitions a role, or are we actually experiencing them. Do we feel sad when someone passes away because we are actually sad or because we know and society tells us to be sad?

I'm really looking forward to hearing your ideas. I know there is no true anwser to this question but it will be interesting to hear what other people think about this topic!

Emma

Blog Post 2

I have been thinking a lot about the film Orlando and how throughout the film he changes from a man to a woman, but he/she never ages. The film spans several-hundred years but Orlando is just as young at the end as she was at the beginning. What is the significance of Orlando's immortality?

The one idea I could come up with is that by not aging, the film is able to show how women were treated throughout time without age being a factor. In the beginning, Orlando is betrothed to the woman (I don't know if we are ever told her name) but leaves her for the Russian woman. He chooses an attractive woman with more power over a less attractive, less powerful woman.

Later, after he transforms into a woman we see her struggling in her big dress. This shows that appearance is still important. Men expect women to be feminine with big hair and big dresses.

Then, she falls in love with the American man and she seems to gain power when she chooses not to go exploring with him. She is given the option of what she wants to do with her life. Yet, that the power is quickly taken away when she is informed that because she is no longer a man, she has no right to own property and she either has to bear a son, marry that man (was he a duke? I can't remember), or lose all of her possessions. She ends up having a daughter, so she loses it all because she did not stay a man and chose not to marry. Men still have the power. Men can still try force women into relationships they do not want, but the women do have a choice.

It ends in the 1900's when women are not expected to dress as feminine and they are able to own property (she has a motorcycle and a video camera). Women are able to survive at this time without men. At this point we realize that the child does not age either.

Why do you think Orlando does not age? What significance does this have?

BLOG POST 2

The movie Othello had many interesting scenes that seemed to be related to other scenes in the movie. Many of these scenes happened when she was a male character. Then a similar situation would happen to Othello as a woman.

One particular scene was when Othello had fell in love with young lady. He really cared for her and cherished her. The girl decides to leave Othello. Othello beg for her to stay and tell the lady that he adores her. When the girl leaves the she is depressed and heartbroken. After a while Othello had anger towards all women.

A scene that was similar to this scene was when Othello became a woman. One of the gentlemen asks for Othello hands in marriage. Othello declined and said some similar comments that the girl said to Othello when he was a male. Another scene that was in comparison was when Othello heart was broken, was when she met the guy that was the father of her child. She fell in love with him, but he soon had to leave her. When he left she handles it pretty well. She did not beg for him to stay like she did in the first scene.

Do you think that by having these comparisons have any significance? Also do you think the way that Othello behave in each situation contradict with gender roles?

I was thinking that that Othello behaved differently in similar situations. When Othello was a male he behaved one way, and when Othello was a female she behave in a different way. The thing that was interesting to me is that I expected for her be depressed and heartbroken in the scene when she was a female. These characterics are usually associated with women after someone leaves or break up with them. Othello expresses these emotions more when she was a male and barely expressed these emotions as a woman. It seemed to me that Othello was stronger when she became a female, this could have been from experience. I think that the movie was trying to show that emotions and behavior should not be associated with gender. We should not think that women are always emotional and that men show fewer emotions. It’s depending on the individual not based on what sex you are.

This was my interpretation of the overlaps in the movie let me know you interpretation, or let me know if you agree.

Blog Post #2: Darkness? Light? What’s it all about???

Le Guin’s novel is nothing short of complicated, to be sure. This can make it hard to pick one aspect to really analyze but I was most intrigued with the poem that Estraven tells Ai.

Light is the left hand of darkness

and darkness the right hand of light.

Two are one, life and death, lying

together like lovers in kemmer,

like hands joined together,

like the end and the way.

(233)

When I first read this poem I knew it had to have significance (after all, the title of the novel is The Left Hand of Darkness). After a lot of thought and listening to the ideas floating around in class, I think I understand its meaning. This poem is, in essence, one of the climatic ideas in Le Guin’s novel. Her novel is complicated, with many different important themes, such as communication, gender, cultural barriers, and so on. However, when it comes down to it, the novel really is about one specific overarching theme: mankind as a whole and the things that bind us all. Ai says this best when talking to the king at the end of the novel. Ai notes that Estraven “served the master [he serves]” and when the king confusingly mistakes this for the Ekumen, Ai replies, “No. Mankind” (293).

Therefore, I think the light and darkness in this poem can best be seen as the female and male gender. This poem seems to be trying to represent the idea that we have both genders inside of us, that people are part of a common mankind, not feminine or masculine. This can best be seen in the lines that say “two are one, life and death” and “like hands joined together”. This poem takes on even more significance in light of the Gethenians’ unique physical being of both male and female simultaneously. They, unlike Ai, are not defined by gender; they physically have both the “light” and the “darkness” in them. Le Guin, through this interesting phenomenon, highlights the idea of gender as a performance or the idea that gender is a social construction. Even more, Le Guin creates this world of ice and blinding sun that emphasizes the shadows, darkness, and light of life, the idea that everything coexists. The environment becomes a symbol for her idea of a humanity that share all qualities rather than being limited by their gender or their cultural differences. When it comes down to it, people are all a little “light”, a little “dark”, and a little “shadow”.

So I guess my big question would be: Do any of you see this poem in this way? If not, what way do you see it/ what do you think it represents? I could be completely wrong on this interpretation so feel free to disagree!!!