How Gender Shapes Girls' Lives Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

How Gender Shapes Girls' Lives - Term Paper Example As a function of seeking to understand these dynamics to a more full and complete degree, the following analysis will engage the reader with a more informed understanding of the way in which gender norms impact upon current culture and help to define, as well as constrain, the way in which young girls self identify and create an understanding for the world around them. From a historical analysis, it can be understood that the cultural norms and mores that women were expected to adhere to within the past were generally contingent upon their own fertility, the means through which they could bring up the children that they burst, and their responsibility to take care of the men within their families (McGovern, 1998). Ultimately, this represents a patriarchal understanding of the way in which women should subject themselves to a level of second-class citizenship as compared to their male counterparts. Whereas the gender norms for men were contingent upon increasing their material possess ions and/or focusing upon those aspects of life that interested them and they believed were of value, women wear instead prompted to focus upon a very narrow set of expectations; none of these were necessarily concentric upon the desires and hopes that a woman might have with regards to the way in which her future should look. Throughout the course of the years, the patriarchal society has changed very little (Chan et al., 2012). This illusion for change is one of the most impactful factors that encourage individuals within the current era to engage with the false understanding for the fact that the current/modern dynamic is somehow drastically different than it was before. Whereas it is without question that rights and privileges have increased, the mores and the norms of society have evolved, these very same mores and norms are nonetheless still predicated upon a patriarchal definition of society; thereby, very few real changes have been effected. The fundamental issue of continui ng to define gender norms based upon fecund understanding or the ability of the female to produce and care for children is by far the single most constraining aspect of the way in which gender norms continue to impact the way in which individuals understand their own net worth and place within society. Many would argue that the level of change that was exhibited from the beginning of recorded history up until the mid 18th century was negligible. However, a recent level of emphasis upon women’s rights, and the role in which gender has with respect to define the way in which individual should behave, indicate that a fundamental break with the past has in fact been engaged. Yes, upon closer inspection, the true levels of differential that exists between the gender norms that exist within the current era and the gender norms that exist in several hundred years ago are not quite as stark as they might at first appear. Although it is true that women now have the right and ability t o integrate with the workforce, although it is true that women can choose between staying at home and seeking to benefit their lives by working and drawing a salary, although it is true that not each and every family is headed by a male, although it is true that women now have the right to vote, although it is true that a woma

Are the documentary filmmakers trying to persuade you of a certain Assignment

Are the documentary filmmakers trying to persuade you of a certain point of view - Assignment Example This power to persuade comes from the fact that documentaries deal with raw reality and in doing so, it becomes more convincing and powerful in many ways. It is not the camera as a passive recording device, but the man behind the camera, with his particular likes and dislikes that makes us attracted to a piece of documentary. From the very beginning, there were distinctly two types of filmmaking. The first one tries to portray the film as a tool of magic, in which we see what is possibly not seen in real life. A larger than life, magical representation. This method was pioneered by George Melies (1861-1938). The second one portrayed film as a capturing device that captures time in the form of image and sound. It captures reality as reality itself. This method was pioneered by Lumiere Brothers (Auguste Lumiere-1862-1954 and Jean Lumiere- 1864-1948). Thus Lumiere Brothers can be considered to be the father of documentary filmmaking. In the documentary mode of filmmaking, the man behind the camera captures the elements inside his frame, but at the same time, he is excluding most of the reality and portraying only a small portion of it. This very act of elimination gives the documentary filmmaker his particular power to emote, persuade and sometimes even provoke. By editing the film, the maker constantly persuades the audience to go through a recording of a series of events in a particular time sequence. We must remember that the very invention of film is based on the fact that somebody wanted to document motion in pictures and this gave rise to the motion picture or film. The very first piece of film by Lumiere Brothers is called: â€Å"Workers leaving the Lumiere Factory†. It was screened on 22nd March, 1895. It was a documentary footage of the workers leaving a factory after work. This film presented to the world the idea that reality can be captured and played back by the device of cinematography. The term ‘documentary’ was first used by Joh n Grierson in 1926. He was writing review for Robert Flaherty’s film â€Å"Moana†. He wrote that the film had ‘documentary’ value. Thus from the very beginning ‘documentary’ meant a very specific type of film. The propagandist approach can be seen from very early approaches like Dziga Vertov’s â€Å"Kino Pravda† (literally means cinematic truth) newsreel series. Vertov believed that a certain sequence of shots taken from samples of real life, will create a meaning, not observable by the naked eye. Thus by interpolating shots and inter-titles, he tried to etch meaning out of seemingly normal life. In the Nazi propagandist films during the time period between two World Wars, like Leni Reifenstahl’s â€Å"Triumph of the Will† (1935) we see groundbreaking techniques of aerial photography, camera movement, wide-angle lenses and coupled with that a fantastic use of music to create movement and rhythm. It contained excerpt s from speeches delivered by various Nazi leaders including Hitler, interspersed with footages of the gathering of about 70 million Nazi supporters. The film actually tried to portray a vision which was envisioned by Hitler: Germany as a great power having Hitler as its great leader. Thus over the ages we have noticed a tendency in filmmakers to make films where truth is portrayed in a peculiarly forceful manner. The film â€Å"Who Killed Vincent Chin† directed by Christine Choy and Renee Tajima-Pena begins with the testimony of the stripper Starlene who was