The other day my dad was watching Rambo. At one point my little brother came and saw how tough and manly Rambo was. So he decided to grab the biggest toy gun he had, dress up and imitate Rambo's pose in the movie. Notice how in the picture, he stands in a position that closely resembles Rambo's. He holds the toy gun, and wraps the bullets around his wrist the exact same way. While standing like this, he portrays the "ideal man" which is someone who is tough and shows no fear. I took this picture during the act because I thought it was an example of the influence media has on what is deemed acceptable to be a certain gender. When we see superheroes in movies or movie stars like Arnold Schwarzenegger or Sylvester Stallone we get an overly exaggerated picture of masculinity. Kids learn to believe that the behaviors in these movies are normal and begin to link masculinity to power and control. During the time this picture was taken, my dad was also talking to my little brother about his time in the military and how he should follow in his footsteps. In a way this shows that parents can also affect how children view their roles as boys or girls. Society today is misleading and can harm children's view of each gender as they grow older.
3 comments:
Your photograph makes a clever point on how boys of a young age are affected by scripts of masculinity. The media in addition to parental relationships have a large influence over the behavior and aspirations of pre-pubescent boys. Toughness and fearlessness are labeled as traits of an “ideal man”, however, other traits that embody this description include: sexuality, dominance, and hostility. The actors you mentioned, Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger, both possess a sexualized male physical appearance. This look informs boys/men that in order for girls/women to feel attracted to them, they must have protruding biceps, a strong chest, and firm abdominals. Strength is also associated with this exaggerated appearance. In regards to dominance and hostility, artillery is used to provoke authority over weaker individuals and to show how mercy should not be tolerated. This can be linked to the military, which your father promotes as the foundation to an “ideal man”. Fathers inspire their sons to be a mirror image of themselves in order to teach them what is desirable for their gender. Lastly, I agree with your point that society is misleading and negatively affect children. It is the media that demands males to conform to certain gender schemas so that they won’t be perceived as undesirable.
This picture is a very attention getting, I feel like this picture is a very good pic to explain what the photographer was trying to explain. Just from the title and the picture without reading the summary I could basically tell what’s trying to be explained. I really also like how the background of the picture is a TV. I feel like that was a really good choice to go with cause how many us watch TV and, how many us look at what we see on TV as how real life should be. Also looking at this picture I believe it really caught my attention on more of a personal level also. I can really relate as being a male and watching character’s such as the boy is trying to impersonate. But I also have some little dislike like’s about the picture first I think the should have incorporated the parents given him praise for the child imitating the character. And also it would it would have looked crazy in black in white. But overall great picture the picture in itself does justice for getting the point across the photographer was trying to establish.
This photo shows us without a doubt that children are sponges. The young boy is fixated on how he can be more manly by trying to hold a machine gun like the actor on the screen. This may see harmless, and at his age probably is. But if it continues, it could turn into something the parents will wish they could reverse.
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