Miles & Carter

From Amber: 

When you first look at this photo you think it is a picture of two happy little boys playing. This photo is just that but the meaning behind it is much more than that. I chose to represent the social world of masculinity in young children. In the article The “Two Cultures” of childhood the author states that “over time, the more boys play with boys and girls with girls, the more gender typed their play become (e.g., more rough-and-tumble play by boys more doll play by girls; Martin & Fabes, 2001). By using an image of two young boys one older than the other I chose to show just how much children “strive to act in socially appropriate masculine ways” (Martin & Ruble, 2004). Gender schemas become part of self-identity, influencing children’s preferences this causes boy children to act and teach other boy children to act in the socially acceptable way of rough and tough. The toy industry and the way children are taught to play have a huge impact on the behavior and personalities children develop. This is true even into adulthood Men are strong and Women are docile creatures.

The name of this image is “Miles & Carter”. The male children in the photo are my son Miles, he is 10 months old and his older cousin Carter, 10 years of age. I used different techniques in the image such as a specific toy, specific outfits and specific subjects for symbolism background, color, and camera angle. The first thing I want to point out is the choice of whom Miles wanted to play with that day. In the clip we watched from the film “He said, She said” by Deborah Tannen she explained how children tend to play with the same sex from a young age when they have the choice. The day this photo was taken Miles had the choice to play with Carter his male cousin or Kelcie his female cousin. Miles is just 10 months old and is already expressing the behavior of choosing to play with the same sex. The image “Miles & Carter” uses the technique of color by focusing the eye on the color red. When you think of red do you think of it as a boy color or girl color. Most people would say a boy color. Why is that? Red triggers one to think about anger, violence, strength, bold, passion, courageous and confident. All the terms that individuals relate to red are all words that society relates to males. A male is supposed to be strong, bold, and courageous a female is not. Males are quicker to anger and violence than females. That is why red is considered a male color. Little boy toys are usually red, blue, or green and little girl toys are usually pink, purple, or yellow. At the park that we went to take the photo this was expressed. The play car was bright red and the play pony was painted purple. I used symbolism greatly in the image. The older child carter is wearing a muscle shirt to symbolize how strength is pushed onto male children. A young female child would not wear a muscle shirt because strength and lifting weights is not an activity that is pushed upon girls as it is on boys. Another method of symbolism in “Miles&Carter” is the grip that the older child has on the smaller child. The grip is a tight or rough grasp to symbolize how males are built to be tough. If a female child was holding the infant she would be more gentle because females are brought up as nurturing and soft, as well as if the older child was still a male and the infant was a female he would be holding the infant more gently because females are portrayed as soft and fragile from infancy. The technique of background was used to show that natural imagination and natural choice of a child is no longer seen because of social norms and the way toys are made. The way that toys are made is to take children away from natural imagination and the creation of toys has taken away from children being able to make their own ideas and is creating the imagination for the children. For example if the car wasn’t painted red, all three of the children the female cousin and the two male children maybe would have all gotten into the car and used their imagination to relate the car to themselves instead of separating the children during play because of the red car and the purple pony. Just by painting the toys at the park caused the children to play with the same sex. The technique of camera angle, I used the angle so that Miles the younger child was looking up toward the camera to show how younger children learn from older children of the same sex. Miles is at the age where he is still being carried because he can not yet walk so he was carried to the car and shown how to turn the wheel and act as if he was driving a fast car by an older child. Male children are taught how to be rough and enjoy certain activities by older children of the same sex because they look up to them.

 

Rudman, Laurie A., et al. "The Two Cultures of Childhood." The Social Psychology of Gender:  

     How Power and Intimacy Shape Gender Relations. The Guilford Press, 2015, 59-63.

Tannen, Deborah.DiNozzi, Robert. (Eds.) (2000) Deborah Tannenhe said, she said : gender, language, communication Los Angeles, Calif. : Into the Classroom Media ;