Entry #5

Women: Politics, Family and Celebrity

Women have not always had the right to vote for their Senators, House of Representatives, or even the President of the United Sates. Today though we are seeing more and more women not only vote, but these women are becoming our Senators, House of Representatives and hopefully one day our President of the United States. While women have come a long way, they still have many obstacles to climb. In this entry I am going to talk about females as politicians, the family lives of these female politicians and these politicians as celebrities.

Female Politicians

Female politicians are becoming more common yet are still very uncommon. Forty-five women have been elected or appointed into office after their husband had passed away (pg. 95). Many women have come into this after having run in the campaign with their husband. They are familiar with what is going on and the voters have seen them campaigning alongside their husband and family. Some women use a different approach when getting votes. One approach woman politician’s use is to focus on issues that comply with women’s customary roles in the family such as health, and education (pg. 96). As women we are closely related with education and health because it is the most closely related to women and taking care of families. Women politicians also usually stay away from attack ads and negative advertising, because it’s at odds with voters views of the “proper female behavior” (pg. 97). When we watch female politicians campaign videos we usually see them use these approaches to gain more voters.

In the clips below each one shows two of the commercials House member Stephanie Herseth Sandlin used in her 2008 campaign. In the first one we see how she talks about health care for veterans. Once again, we have a women House member talking about an issue such as health care. In the second clip we see her talking about education and healthcare the two issues women in congress are most commonly seen supporting.

Family of Female Politicians

While it is okay for men to be politicians and fathers, it seems that there is still an issue with females being both a politician and mother. Van Zoonen explains, “The main topics for female politicians are family life (for the married ones) and love affairs (for the single ones)” (pg. 90). Whoever the female candidates is we always hear about her family and how it will affect them, never do we here how it will affect a man’s family. In the book, Entertaining the Citizen it states, “The families of female politician suffer because of the ambitions. The families of male politicians can see similarly little of them; nevertheless, their plight is constructed as heroic, and in support of the man’s political career” (pg. 91). Female politicians are often seen as having to be a mom or politician. It is hard for them to be both. We also see female candidates running at an older age, when her family has grown up, while with men we see them as younger and having families still at home (pg. 90).

In the pictures below they are of Sandlin’s family. The first one is of Stephanie and her husband, Max Sandlin, at their wedding on March 31, 2007. The second one is of Stephanie and her son, Zachary Lars, who was born December 15, 2008. Stephanie was married and had her son all while she was in the House seat. Her son is not even a year old. She has taken on the roles of politician, wife and mom. She shows us that you can do all three and still be successful.

Politicians as Celebrities

Van Zoonen, describes celebrity as being well known because of mass media exposure (pg. 93). Women politicians get tons of mass media exposure. Females get exposure for being a female, having a family if they do, and what outfit they are wearing, while men get recognition for what issues they are promoting. During this past presidential election we heard what Sarah Palin was wearing and about her family, but we never heard what Joe Biden was wearing or about his family. We heard more about the issues he presented.

When Stephanie announced she was pregnant it made news all over. Everyone was talking about her having a baby, rather than the issues she was fighting for. When I was looking for websites that announced her being pregnant I found tons. Here are couple that of websites that announced she was pregnant, making a bigger deal out her pregnancy than her political issues.

Stephanie Herseth Sandlin Pregnant

Stephanie Herseth Sandlin Pregnant #2

In Conclusion

While women have come a long way since the days of not being able to vote, there are still many things that we need to overcome. One day it might not be such a big deal when female politicians do have families, and people will focus more on what their issues are.

Journal Entry #4

Gender in the “Slasher” film Scream






Ever since I was a little girl, horror films have TERRIFIED me. One of the films that I was so horribly terrified by was Scream. When I read about popular themes in slasher films I knew what my next e-journal entry would be.

Every horror film has similar themes that are seen through out the movie. After reviewing the film Scream, I found some major key themes we had talked about in class. The themes that I decided to talk about were the gendered violence each slasher film has, the virgin-whore complex, and the “final girl.”

Summary of Scream

Scream starts out a year after the murder of Sidney Prescott’s mother. After two of her classmates are murdered, she worries that they may be related to her mother’s death. Eventually the murderer goes after other kids one by one while continually going after Sidney. Eventually Sidney finds out who is behind the Halloween mask.

Gender Violence

In almost every horror film, there are both males and females that are being killed through out the film. "America on Film" explains, “Men are usually killed quickly off-screen or in shadows, while women are killed in full view, often in extended sequences of suspense and torture” (p. 289). In most horror films, we always see the male character being killed right away, while the women are being tortured and killed in a slow painful way. Women’s murders are a lot more graphic and disturbing than the men in the films.

In the clip below it shows Drew Barrymore’s boyfriend in the film being killed off-screen but then goes to him to show he has been killed. While Drew’s character is being chased by the killer, stabbed, tortured, and killed on screen. It shows the differences in way females are killed in the slow, painful way onscreen while guys still get to die off-screen and quickly.



The Virgin-Whore Complex

Another theme that we see repeatedly in films is the virgin-whore complex. Benshoff and Griffin define the virgin whore complex as a simplistic sexual term as either “good” (the virgin) or “bad” (the whore) (pg. 430). Usually the “whore” is killed right away in the film and dies a painful death. The “virgin” is usually the last one killed if they do not end up living. In our book, it explains the slasher films’ narrative imperative is to punish the sexually active woman. It is not okay to be sexually active; therefore, they need to be punished for being provocative.

In this scene, it shows Rose McGowan’s murder. Throughout the film, she comes off as sexually active. Rose is seen as the whore character in the film and therefore the killers think she deserves to be punished for having had sex. As this scene shows, she is killed in a vey painful way.



The “Final” Girl

The final girl is the girl who is the last one to make it to the end of the film and comes away as a strong woman. Banshoff and Griffin describe the final girl as usually a sweet, virginal character-one who represents the old-fashioned model of proper womanhood (pg. 289). Every horror movie has that final girl, the one who after being chased all through out the movie finally defeats the killer. In most slasher films, the final girl is the one who has recently gone through something traumatic annd does not sleep around, like her friends.

In the beginning of Scream, it shows Sidney who had just lost her mother a year ago and was finally coming to terms with it. Her boyfriend keeps trying to pressure her into having sex becauses she is a virgin and comes off as the sweet young girl. At the end of the movie, it shows Sidney coming face to face with her killers and then the killers even commenting on her not being a virgin anymore, so she could be killed. In the end, she ends up killing them, proving she is the "final" girl.



Overall


After seeing my share of horror films I can honestly say that I am still terrified by them. After reviewing Scream and thinking about other horror films I realized that all horror films have the slasher film key concepts of the gendered violence, the virgin-whore concept and the "final" girl. I guess I know what to expect the next time I watch a horror film!