The video posted shows a couple different aspects surrounding the rise of sexual books. As I've stated before, 50 Shades of Grey has become a huge success. However, many people are still hesitant to pick up the book in paperback, ashamed of reading the novels. This is where e-readers come in handy, people can just download the book and no one will know what they're reading. A friend of mine agreed saying "I could just go pick up the book at Target but I'd rather get it on my Kindle so no one knows what I'm reading". E-readers also give men a permission to read books maybe meant for a feminine crowd. The video gives the example of a book with a pink cover and how since the development of e-readers more men have bought and read the book. This hits home with gender stereotypes of men and women and the type of books they might be "allowed" to read. E-readers, according to the video, have become the "paper bag" for novels.
This movie Inow pronounce you Chuck and Larry is a great way to show how homosexuality in movies is taken as a joke and not taken seriously. The gender roles taken in this movie both men are acting as if they are married and raising a family. This movies depiction of same sex marriage preceded the 2011 enactment of the marriage equality act which has, legalized marriage of same sex couples in the state of new york.
In this video clip that i found on
youtube It addresses the question of
whether or not being homosexual is a choice or not. It states that homosexuality is a very common thing and thatbeing homosexual is just as normal as knowing that you are straight. I added this clip because it uses a cartoon to show different ways in which society views homosexuality. This shows how homosexuality is viewed through a cartoon clip.
Joan Jett was recognized mostly in second wave feminism. This was around the 1980's when women where making a statement that they could be punk rockers too. She was just one example of women "sticking it to the man". In this blog i will be discussing many women and gay men who wear their gender and/ or sexuality proudly. I will cover from the around the 1980's to present day, and we'll discover how gender and sexuality has changed rock and roll through out the years.
Out of all genre of music I believe that rock and roll is the most rebellious. A rock and roll artist is usually trying to get across that they are different and they could care less about what anyone thinks about it. When women started doing rock and roll around the late 70's early 80's, things where a little bit different. Unlike men, women had to change themselves to be in this type of business. Lots of women lost their fiminity when they decided to be rock stars because they had to compete with the hard core boy and no one was going to listen to a soft spoken little girl. So women had to talk just as dirty and be just as tough as the guys. Now moving closer to the present rock and roll has become more divers in sound and in people.
"I don't make love, I fuck...hard," - Christian Gray, 50 Shades of Grey by E.L. James
When thinking about sex in popular culture, the images of dusty old books and libraries don't exactly come to mind. More like the images of rap music videos, back up dancers, and half naked celebrities spreading their legs across the silver screen. However, recently, the literature world has been taken by storm by the novel 50 Shades of Grey by E.L. James. A love story about a young, innocent, virgin, Anastasia Steele, who meets the powerful and intimidating Christian Grey. They are instantly drawn to each other but there's a hitch (as always). Christian has a serious fetish for some BDSM; bondage, dominant , submissive, kinky sex. The novel is filled with scenes of detailed and graphic sex between the two main characters. Below, is a spoof of the novel done by Saturday Night Live.
It seems, despite the positive response to the novel, there are still a lot of humor surrounding the book. It brings up the question, are sex novels still too controversial/uncomfortable for some people? Or do we just really love a good sex joke?
Although this is the first novel to really get the media attention, there are so many novels concerning sex. There are entire sections of bookstores dedicated to romance and self help sex books. So why is it that 50 Shades of Grey is the first erotic novel to hit the spotlight? Is is just the sex? Or is it the characters that we find so appealing? To expand further, is this going to be the start of a literary movement? Does this make sex more acceptable?
Not only does Fifty Shades of Grey explore different sexual scenarios and bring up important questions, but it also is a reflection of the gender stereotypes and roles in our society. Christian Grey is the dominant, as most males are supposed to be in and out of the bedroom, looking for a submissive female, again as most women are supposed to be. Christian Grey has a need to control, whereas Anastasia Steele just has a need for his love and attention. The gender roles expressed in their relationship bring up the question of why is the male always the dominant? What would happen if the roles were reversed and Anastasia Steele was the dominant? The book does hint at Christian Grey's past lover, a Mrs. Robinson (Anastasia's nickname), who was his dominant and taught him everything he needed to know about being in a BDSM relationship, we don't meet this woman therefor we don't read of any interaction between the two. So, although there is a woman dominant in the novel, she no longer plays an active role.
In my section of the blog, I will do my best to answer all of these questions not only surrounding 50 Shades of Grey, but other novels as well. I am an avid reader, but, admittedly, 50 Shades of Grey is my first erotic novel (because of course I'm reading it). I know little of the world of erotic novels or novels containing the LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transvestite) community. However, having read novels from this century and what would be considered classics, I am well aware of the different gender norms in the world of literature and how they change over time. I will take you on a journey through the literary world and hopefully we can make some sense of the increasingly sexual nature of novels.
my subtopic that i will be reseraching on is gender and sexuality in films. this topic is very interesting to me and i feel that i can find some very interseting things from this. "In a hundred years of movies, homosexuality has only rarely been depicted on
the screen. When it did appear, it was there as something to laugh at -- or
something to pity -- or even something to fear." These sentences was taken from a source of research and in my opinion i feel that homosexuality in movies is more for people to laugh at them more than to show the world that homosexuality should be accepted in our society. when you view a homosexual movie writers tend to make it more of a comedy than to show that homosexual relationships are socially acceptable. "Gay jokes are still so common in American movie comedies that most of them barely register." I believe that by far every gay movie has tried to show that gay people deserve to have movies with romance and love in it also just as heterosexual love movies. But it is common in society to just laugh at homosexual actions than to embrace them this is why heterosexual love movies are viewed as romantic and everyone wants that love, but homosexual love movies are a joke to people or they think it is disgusting to look at.
by: Shayla Weems
citations
Hartinger, Brent. seven movies with homophobia jokes. www.afterelton.com. copyright 2002-2013.
jeff and Rob. homosexuality in film. www.sonypictures.com. March 15th,1996.
The video posted shows a couple different aspects surrounding the rise of sexual books. As I've stated before, 50 Shades of Grey has become a huge success. However, many people are still hesitant to pick up the book in paperback, ashamed of reading the novels. This is where e-readers come in handy, people can just download the book and no one will know what they're reading. A friend of mine agreed saying "I could just go pick up the book at Target but I'd rather get it on my Kindle so no one knows what I'm reading". E-readers also give men a permission to read books maybe meant for a feminine crowd. The video gives the example of a book with a pink cover and how since the development of e-readers more men have bought and read the book. This hits home with gender stereotypes of men and women and the type of books they might be "allowed" to read. E-readers, according to the video, have become the "paper bag" for novels.
