Go Stewie Go

Heidi Rae Hosmer
WST 3015
3/17/10


A Feminist Analysis of Family Guy
In the Family Guy episode "Go Stewie Go", one of the main plot points involves Lois feeling belittled by Peter's comments about her age. When Meg's boyfriend, Anthony, makes flattering comments toward Lois, she later gets caught making out with him. When she confesses to Peter, Peter tells her he was only making fun of her age because he didn't want her to notice how old and fat he was getting.

When Lois turns to Bonnie for advice about her feelings for Anthony, she is told that it is okay, even perfectly normal, for her to explore her sexuality. This endorsement of adultery challenges the traditional belief that women should have only one partner, and should remain untouched by anyone but their husbands (Kirk and Okazawa-Rey 150). The conflict of the story also recognizes Lois as not just a sexless mother as many TV shows portray women, but as a woman with sexual needs.

Unfortunately, Lois seems to accept Peter's objectification of her. She tolerates his comments, and when they become abusive, she feels "worthless" because she's not sexy enough for him. This problem is eventually resolved when Peter reveals that he was being immature and projecting, hoping she wouldn't notice his deficiencies by trying to draw her attention to her own.

The relationship between Meg and Lois becomes very unusual when Meg catches her mother making out with her boyfriend. After the encounter, Lois goes to Meg's room to talk to her about what happened and apologize. What at first appears to be a set-up for a mother-daughter discussion, turns into Meg pounding her chest over what she would do to keep her man. Suddenly, instead of seeing her mother as a mother, Meg sees Lois as competition for sexual attentions. She ridicules Lois's age, implying that she is not capable of "stealing" her boyfriend from her because she is so old, and unattractive for it. Even though Meg seems to maintain the perception of older women as sexless, she still behaves threatened by her mother's advances on her boyfriend.

While Lois is busy with her little affair, Stewie is attending an audition for a children's TV show. Lois is rarely portrayed as his primary caregiver, and in fact he is never with her during this episode. Instead, he is watched after by Brian, the family dog. While this may not be realistic, it promotes the idea that a family can have other caregivers watching after children, even male caregivers. Like many women caregivers, Brian is not compensated for his childcare services. If it weren't for the fact that he was a dog and didn't have to work, he might face discrimination in his pay for taking time away from work to care for a baby (Crittenden 343)

Overall, Family Guy seems to challenge some of the stereotypes of motherhood and childcare, and portray relationships in more unconventional ways. But it does so often in very bizarre ways.


Word Count: 489

Crittenden,Ann. "The Mommy Tax". Women's Lives: Multicultural Perspectives. New York: New York University Press, 2007. 337-345. Print.

Kirk, Gwyn, and Okazawa-Rey, Margo. Women's Lives: Multicultural Perspectives. 5th ed. Boston, MA: McGraw-Hill, 2010. 150. Print.

Goodbye Earl: Domestic Violence and Murder

Heidi Rae Hosmer
WST 3015
3/14/10


A Feminist Analysis of "Goodbye Earl" by the Dixie Chicks


Dixie Chick's song "Goodbye Earl" is one I remember very well, having grown up on country music. I even remember the controversy surrounding this song, how the radio D.J.s would take callers and listen to their input on whether or not the song should even be played on their station. Mothers and fathers were concerned children might hear the song and become confused, and think killing their abuser was an appropriate response to violence (domestic or otherwise). Others noted the Dixie Chicks' tongue-in-cheek tone, and how, if a child was old enough to understand the lyrics, they were old enough to know it was "just a song."

At the time I sided with the listeners who took the song very lightly. In fact, I still do. But I have a better idea of where the concerned parents were coming from. Though in the song Wanda escapes her domestic abuse situation, she only does so by escalating the violence and becoming the abuser. She and Mary Ann didn't batter and hospitalize Earl the way he did to Wanda, but killed him through the much more passive method of poisoning. This action isn't as blatantly, fist-to-face violent as Earl's abuse was, but even still it qualifies as intimate partner violence (Seely 187-189).

The song also has undertones implying that Earl was unwanted, unimportant, and even sub-human. The verse "[I]t turns out he was a missing person who nobody missed at all" minimizes the weight of the crime committed by these women. Just because he was a man, did not mean he was incapable of being victimized. In fact, the assumption that men are not victims of intimate partner violence is probably the reason the law enforcement in the song did not look into his disappearance.

If Wanda's case were to go to trial, Earl's body found and the women accused of murder, her attorney may have made references to "battered women syndrome" (Kirk and Okazawa-Rey 264) and called experts to testify that Wanda suffered from this affliction. They would have claimed Wanda saw no other way out of her situation. this would only minimize Wanda's responsibility for her actions, and lay all the blame on Mary Ann, who could not be suffering similarly since she was not the victim of abuse. Wanda would more than likely receive minimal punishment, and be perceived as just as weak as if she were still being battered.

"Goodbye Earl" can easily be mistaken as empowering and feminist, but feminism is not about taking the law into our own hands and becoming the victimizer instead of the victim. It is about ending violence, against men and women, and changing the laws to make them more effective to that end. Some women who heard this song may have sympathized with these characters, and felt empowered to take control of their situation with a domestic partner. If so, I can only hope they chose to do so legally.

Word Count: 489

Seely, Megan. Fight Like a Girl: How to be a Fearless Feminist. New York: New York University Press, 2007. 187-189. Print.

Kirk, Gwyn, and Okazawa-Rey, Margo. Women's Lives: Multicultural Perspectives. 5th ed. Boston, MA: McGraw-Hill, 2010. 264. Print.

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

Heidi Rae Hosmer
WST 3015
2/17/10

A Feminist Analysis of "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban"

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004) is a film that is remarkable in its egalitarian portrayal of the sexes. Though a few gender stereotypes may be implied, it is much fairer than most other Hollywood films.

In this film, it is implied in several places that the female lead, Hermione Granger, is attracted to Ron Weasley. During Chapter 17, they are sharing a private moment enjoying a scenic view of a haunted castle, and during Chapter 10 and 22, they touch intimately when Hermione is startled or frightened. Her friendship with Harry is strictly platonic, though Harry does demonstrate some protective postures in Chapter 30 when the pair face Dementors.



Even though Hermione's fear in some moments may be seen as perpetuating the stereotype of women as weak and in need of protection, she shows dominating strength in many other ways. For instance, throughout the movie she is heavily characterized as smart, attentive, and clever. She takes extra classes, always knows the answers in class, and is quick to solve problems. She is also trusted by her superiors; in Chapter 28, it is revealed that she has been entrusted by Professor McGonagall with powerful and dangerous magic, and is even encouraged my Professor Dumbledore to use it in an unconventional way. It is also worth noting that Hermione is never dressed in an overtly sexual manner. Most of the time her attire is indistinguishable from her male counterparts, but she does not dress any different than any other females her age.




While Hermione is a white female who is at least moderately prettier than most other females in this film, one should not be too quick to assume she is an "ableist" or "racist" beauty ideal (Kirk and Okazawa-Rey 208). Hermione is low-maintenance, flat-chested, and very tomboyish in both personality and looks. Hermione also comes from non-wizard parentage, and faces discrimination for being a "filthy Mudblood"; Draco Malfoy shows overt racism toward her for this, and Professor Snape demonstrates a more covert form of discrimination, treating her as inferior in a classroom setting. Other characters also face discrimination that could be interpreted as "racial"; Professor Lupin, who is a werewolf, resigns from his position at the end of the film for fear of discrimination from his students' parents, and is also passively deemed inferior by Professor Snape. Even Ron deals with classism by being harassed by Malfoy for coming from a poor family.

Even though she faces this kind of racism on a day-to-day basis, she manages to remain well-behaved for most of the film. One might suppose this is a bad representation of how we should passively accept the bitter pill of discrimination, but Hermione faces this discrimination in most cases by being the so-called "bigger man" and walking away from conflict, and not allowing herself to be put down by Professors like Snape who think she should sit down and shut up in class. This drive to be confident in herself and be heard is a much different ideal than many advertisers are selling girls these days, as Jean Kilbourne demonstrates in her essay "The More You Subtract, the More You Add" (231-239). And in facing the more blatant racism of Draco Malfoy, she eventually punches him in the face in Chapter 22. Though her motivation is not revenge for herself, but revenge for Buckbeak who is about to be executed, this moment balances quite nicely against other previously mentioned situations in which she shows fear and weakness.

Overall, I think Hermione Granger is a feminist role model worth looking up to. She is strong, smart, and brave, and does not back down when confronted with gender or racial discrimination.


Word Count: 597


Bibliography:

Kilbourne, Jean. "The More You Subtract, the More You Add." Women's Lives: Multicultural Perspectives. Boston: McGraw-Hill, 2010. 231-239. Print.

Kirk, Gwyn, and Margo Okazawa-Rey. Women's Lives: Multicultural Perspectives. 5th ed. Boston, MA: McGraw-Hill, 2010. 208. Print.

Ad Analysis

For this analysis, I chose an ad from WIRED Magazine, issue 17.09, for Grey Goose Le Citron vodka. In it, actor and filmmaker Edward Burns is shown hosting a party with friends. The side panel on the left discusses his "entertaining principles" for these get-togethers.



Though in the ad Burns is quoted saying "I hang out with so many different groups of people," there does not appear to be much variety in this ad. The only apparent ethnic minorities (one black man and one black woman) are fair skinned, demonstrating a white standard of beauty. Everyone appears to be dressed to an upper-middle-class standard. All the women in the ad are smiling and dressed in dresses or skirts and high heels. There does not appear to be much variety in their heights or sizes. Each woman appears to be paired with one man. One of the men is paired with two women. Not only does this exemplify that "[i]deal beauty standards are... heterosexist, and racist" (Kirk and Okazawa-Rey 208) but it also promotes the acceptability of male promiscuity.

The ad is also definitively patriarchal in that it is "male-dominated, male-identified, [and] male-centered" (Johnson 73). While this is to be expected from a magazine that caters to an audience that is 75% male ("Condé Nast Digital"), the patriarchal implications of the ad are very subtle. In each pairing, the woman is fully focused on her male partner, facing him and giving eye contact. The males, however, are looking away in four out of six pairings. In some cases they appear to be basking in female attention, particularly Burns in the focal point of the image. This is a very subtle, passive display of dominance over the women.

The ad is trying to sell not only vodka, but a good party. The idea is that these simple tips and this simple beverage will make for a good time for everyone. The image seems to be equating a good time with heterosexual mating, in a sort of commodification of sexual relationships (Kirk and Okazawa-Rey 208). No one is interacting directly with a person of the same sex, and there is no variety of emotion or levels of subjective fun. There are no wallflowers, but neither are there any crowds. All participants seem to have the exact same understanding of what a "good time" is, making the ad highly unrealistic.


Word Count: 508

"Condé Nast Digital and Condé Nast Magazines." Condé Nast Digital. May 2009. Condé Nast, Web. 8 Feb 2010. http://www.condenastdigital.com/mediakits/wired/index.html.

Johnson, Allan. "Patriarchy, the System." Women's Lives: Multicultural Perspectives. Boston: McGraw-Hill, 2010. 73. Print.

Kirk, Gwyn, and Margo Okazawa-Rey. Women's Lives: Multicultural Perspectives. 5th ed. Boston, MA: McGraw-Hill, 2010. 208. Print.

Iron Jawed Angels vs. Mary Poppins.... FIGHT!

1. How is the word suffragist used in each film?
Iron Jawed Angels: The suffragists comment negatively on the more radical suffragists in England. To the American suffragists, the movement is dignified, respectable, and civilized.

Mary Poppins: Suffrage is seen as good fun. Even Mrs. Banks treats it like it's just hooliganism, bragging about her acts of vandalism and the imprisonment of her peers as if it weren't a tragedy.


2. Which women are active and which ones are passive? Are all the activists in both films active?
Iron Jawed Angels: All women are active except Emily Leighton, who makes monetary contributions to the NWP but is not active until later on.

Mary Poppins: Mrs. Banks is the only activist in the film, but she is not "active". She never wears her suffragist sash in the presence of Mr. Banks. She remains an "activist" but still participates in the patriarchal system (Johnson 72), making her a kind of passive activist.


3. Are these representations of the suffragist movement realistic?
Yes. All of the events in Iron Jawed Angels are fairly historically accurate, and the portrayal of even Mrs. Banks doesn't seem all to unlikely to have occurred. While Mrs. Banks probably isn't representative of all British suffragists, its perfectly possible that there were some suffragettes whose hearts were in the movement, but whose minds weren't quite there.


4. How is activism represented is each film? Does it sustain or disrupt stereotypes of femininity?
Iron Jawed Angels disrupts the stereotypes of femininity. The suffragists depicted in this film had very strong characters, were able to withstand cold, riots, and brutal prison treatment.

Mary Poppins continuously sustains stereotypes of femininity and supports the role women should play in a patriarchal system. Mrs. Banks is submissive about her activism. When the children go to the bank, Michael is encouraged to open a bank account, but not Jane. Mr. and Mrs. Banks both express sexist sentiments, Mr. Banks referring to female thinking as "sugary", and Mrs. Banks singing that "men are nice, but stupid on the whole."


5. Do the women in the films continue to be suffragists by the end of the film?
Mrs. Banks remained a suffragist, though she did use her Votes for Women sash as a kite tail, which may have signified her decision to focus more on her family and less on politics. In Iron Jawed Angels Alice went on to fight for women's rights until she died in 1977.


6. How are male and female relationships depicted in each film? How is marriage depicted?
Mary Poppins: Mr. Banks, as husband, is "the lord of his castle" and Mrs. Banks submits to his wishes. Bert courted MANY other ladies and, though Mary finds this annoying, it is okay for men to have these kinds of relationships.

Iron Jawed Angels: The only husband-wife relationship Thomas and Emily Leighton. Emily stays home and cares for their children, and when she becomes more active with the suffragist movement, he takes her money and children away. Alice appears fearful of a relationship with Ben. I thought this depiction perpetuated the stereotype that feminists hate men and are "antisex" (Kirk and Okazawa-Rey 4).


7. How are men depicted in each film?
In both films, men hold positions of power - politicians, police officers, military personel, wardens, president, bankers, etc. Mary Poppins mostly depicts them as detatched and greedy, especially in regard to the bankers. Mrs. Banks even says they are "stupid". Some characters (chimney sweeps, police officer) are sensitive and fun-loving, but always chivalrous. The men of Iron Jawed Angels are almost always dismissive of the women's movement, to the point of neglecting their duties (i.e. the police officers during the parade and picketing). They are always the first to incite hostility and violence, and are rarely shown to demonstrate chivalry.


8. How is women’s labor represented in each film?
Mary Poppins: Women only worked as maids and nannies. Here women are given a very limited capacity for work.

Iron Jawed Angels: Not only are women depicted as nannies, maids and mothers, but also factory workers, matrons, and scholars.


9. Are the main characters suffragists? Who are the "main" women in the film? How do they fulfill or disrupt gendered notions of femininity?
The main characters in Iron Jawed Angels are suffragists, but only one main characters in Mary Poppins is.

Alice, Lucy, Inez, Doris, Emily, Anna, Mabel, and Rose of Iron Jawed Angels are all suffragists. As a mother and housekeeper, Emily fulfills most notions of femininity. Alice's brutal honesty and toughness is distinctly unfeminine. Lucy's high-maintenance attitude is distinctly feminine, and even she is concerned that she is nearing thirty and has no children.

The main women in Mary Poppins are Mary Poppins and Mrs. Banks. Both of them tend to fulfill, rather than disrupt, notions of femininity as evidenced by their jobs, how they dress and maintain themselves, and how they generally submit to the wishes of the men around them. Even Mary Poppins, who doesn't wait around to hear Mr. Banks' opinion on anything, is easily pressured into doing whatever Burt wants her to do.


10. How does this relate to “isms”- i.e. is this add racist, ageist, etc.?
In Iron Jawed Angels, Lucy and Alice have their opinions about a constitutional amendment shot down by Doris Stevens: they are too young for their opinion to matter. When the black women's group insists that Alice allow their group to march side-by-side with them in the parade, they are refused.


Cited Sources:

Johnson, Allan. "Patriarchy, the System." Women's Lives: Multicultural Perspectives. Boston: McGraw-Hill, 2010. Print.

Kirk, Gwyn, and Margo Okazawa-Rey. Women's Lives: Multicultural Perspectives. 5th ed. Boston, MA: McGraw-Hill, 2010. 4. Print.

Iron Jawed Angels

For your convenience:

Iron Jawed Angels

You should be able to download it just like Mary Poppins, but I didn't bother trying since you can just stream it. Be warned, however, there is a 70 minute limit per day.

Mary Poppins

If you're interested. MegaUpload has been acting up lately, so there is a possibility you may have trouble with this download.

Mary Poppins Part 1
Mary Poppins Part 2
Mary Poppins Part 3

And I know this is convoluted making you download a 14 byte text document, but trust me, it's neccessary. You can download the password here