I chose to capture this as my photo because when it comes to boys norms they tend to be aggressive, fearless, and tough with what they do in day to day activities. With this photograph I feel it really portrays the horse play, aggressiveness that comes with growing up as a boy. as you can see, the look on this young boys face shows that he is aggressively playing with toys, making them fight each other. In the foreground you can see that there are play dinosaurs, ships, as well as a toy car that young boy is playing with. He’s kind of toys are organized as ” boy toys “ and because of this organization, if a boy were to play with a girls toy he does seem to lower his ring or be different to others since girl toys are typically softer and don’t involve violence like actions. In the background you notice a blue boyish backpack in a blue trashcan, as well as a blue rug which now ties into the power that the color holds in this portrait. The color navy blue is shown a lot in this because the color blue tends to be more for boys as pink is usually used to describe girls. The angle I have this picture is aiming downwards looking down at the young boy to show that there is power held over him such as his parents or guardian of some sort. The blue and white striped long-sleeve shirt that the boys wearing is very similar/blend in with the blue and white theme of his room which is boy code. this all relates to the article “ The two cultures of childhood “ because in the article it states that “aggression is a strong theme of boys play” “ action figures represent the toughest male fantasy figures (e.g superhero’s and their arch enemies)”. The whole article basically talks about how children learn to avoid being seen with toys associated with the opposite gender and how American children are constantly spending time playing with gender neutral or gender specific toys and how each gender interacts with a specific toys. Therefore, this photograph really shows gender socialization from the aggressive place shown from facial expressions to the color theme, camera angle, foreground, background and similarity. also that the young boys masculinity would be questioned or shut down if the opposite were to occur.
2 comments:
Hello Sierra! I agree with all the points in your essay. But also believe a couple other creative techniques could be used. One of them is gaze. The boy in your photo is looking directly at the toys in his hands. Based on hi expression I would infer that he is happy playing with those toys and that they are important to him. This symbolizes the importance and meaning toys to not just boys but also girls and how these toys teach them what to like but also what makes them happy. Another creative technique that I believed was used was Lines. The lines on the carpet ping and center the boy in the photo. This symbolizes the centralization of children in our society. Children are essential to creating and passing down values not only in families but also to creating and setting the tone of our values in our country. As we pass down these values to children, we come to the question on whether we want toxic gender roles to be passed down through generations. I also interpreted the colors in this photo. I believe the colors of the boys’ toys can symbolize the personality traits we pass on to our boys. The colors of the toys are bold and bright colors such as reds, oranges and yellows. These colors represent passion and fire, something we would assume as leadership traits. As a society we promote boys to be leaders and take leadership roles such the patriarchs of families and CEO’s of companies. There are also blue and green and black colored toys. Blue and green are the cool toned colors, and black is the absence of color. The black can symbolize the darkness that we make boys submit to become men such as suppressing emotions. Blue and green are such cool shades and symbolize how an almost emotionless or empty state. As a society we make boy suppress all their emotions and even when men are happy if they’re very happy it can be interpreted as a “gay” trait. In conclusion, I agree with Sierra and believe some additional creative techniques that were used are color, gaze, and lines. -M.G.
From: Bella
Sierra,
I find it very interesting that you took this photograph at an angle. Making the lines of the image off center and not going completely horizontally makes the photo slightly unsettling. I think of this as symbolizing how unsettling boy culture is to society. Boys are made to be a certain way and that should not be something that our society is just okay with. Symbolizing that the way that boys are raised to act in an aggressive manor as a sort of upsetting or disturbing fact makes the picture have an entirely different dimension to it. I also noticed that you did not make the toy the vocal point of the photo. The vocal point of the photo Is in fact the boy. I find this interesting because it a way it symbolizes that the toy is just one aspect of this boys’ script. The boy still has the choice to obey or disobey this cultural script. In the photo the joy on his face shows us that he has chosen to obey the aggressive script that he has been given. The boy being the vocal point of the photo but with his gaze directly on the toy shows that the boy is ultimately in control of who he is but he is so focused on what the culture is telling him to be. This culture is represented by the toy. He is focused on the toy and how he is playing with it. This is just like the boy is also focused on how he is seen by the public and how he can make himself more of a “boy” or “man”. The boy is focused on the culture (the toy) just like the society (the viewer of the photo or photographer) is focused on him. Thank you for sharing this photo!
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