Today is National Holocaust Remembrance Day. As fewer and fewer survivors of the Holocaust exist, it becomes more and more important to remember this historical event. Ever since I first read The Diary of Anne Frank in middle school, I have been fascinated with the stories of those who experienced the Holocaust from all perspectives. To this day, some of my favorite things to read are memoirs from the time period or historical fiction from the time period. I bring this up because the Holocaust represents many cultures. There were those who were taken and killed because of the cultures they represented: Jewish, Gypsy, Homosexual, Disabled, Jehovah's Witnesses, Blacks, and more. It's important to remember and respect these cultures and what they experienced just because of the cultures they identified with.
Thursday, January 27, 2022
Masculine, Feminine, or Both?
Today in class we were discussing feminine and masculine cultures. We started by analyzing The Giving Tree and how it represented these cultures in 1973. We then brainstormed on what these cultures/labels mean today. I couldn't help but think of two of my favorite fictional characters and how they each walk the line of being both masculine and feminine equally.
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| source: https://mindlifetv.com/movies/disney-didnt-want-luisa-to-be-muscular-in-encanto/ |
The first character I thought of was Luisa, from Disney's Encanto. She is incredibly strong and expected to do lots of physical labor, which is often representative of masculine culture. She often tries to hide her emotions, which is also seen as masculine. When the pressures pile up on her, she becomes incredibly emotional and breaks down often, which is seen as more of a feminine characteristic.
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| Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thor_(Marvel_Cinematic_Universe) |
The second character I thought of was Thor from the Marvel Universe. He, like Lusia, looks quite masculine. He's strong and eager to fight, but when it comes to relationships, taking care of those he loves is what is most important to him, even when those people continue to trick and hurt him (Loki). He might look masculine and his aggressions in battle would be considered masculine, but when interacting with Jane, his father, his mother, or his friends, it is relationships that matter most, which is a feminine trait.
If I keep allowing myself to slip down this mental rabbit hole, I'm sure I could think of other fictional characters that walk the line between these two cultures. What are some you can think of?