Macduff's Netflix Queue

Macduff is a character that does not get much attention until the last couple of acts in Macbeth, but when he did deliver his arguments to Malcome and reacted with horror at the news of his family, I felt that I already knew Macduff’s actions because I had followed his archetype in so many different shows. The honest politician (though that can be seen as an oxymoron), a man betrayed by an institution he was supposed to trust, or attempting to separate personal emotions from professional position. In most of these archetypes are held some ideal of how masculinity handles certain situations like politics or being the head of the household.

Leverage is a wonderful show of a perfect five seasons filled with non-stressful plot and character dynamics that is worth every second and the good guys go home at the end of the day knowing at least they made a positive difference. As you can see, I am extremely biased. The premise of Leverage is a group of five criminals (mastermind, grifter/conman, hacker, thief, and hitman) play Robin Hood and use their illegal skills to defend their often vulnerable clients against major corporations. The “Mastermind” of the group, Nate Ford, was not a criminal until after his son died due to an illness might have been treatable by a new drug but Nate’s insurance company who he worked for and was a personal friend of the boss would not allow for an exception in the policy for Nate’s son to receive this new treatment. Nate soon lost his job and was approached for a con-job that would include revenge against his former employer as a side bonus. He took the job with the other criminals and became the leader of their group after the first episode, being reminded of losing his son when a job became too similar and struggling with alcoholism throughout the seasons. Macduff would see himself in Nate on many levels. They both seek to avenge lost loved ones and are driven mad with rage at some points in achieving those goals. Both characters encapsulate an idea of the what grieving masculinity should look like, a narrative of personal pain fueling vengeful justice.

The West Wing is well known for being about a fictional White House administration and their day to day handling of politics and crises. While there are dramatic elements to it, the characters that the show focus on are seen in pursuing believing in politics, though with a comedic style. The show feels out of place in today’s world now that our view of politics have sunk so low. West Wing reflects the ideals that Macduff tried to persuade Malcolm with and is a type of show he could have shared with his son. I believe Macduff would relate most to the characters Leo McGarry and President Bartlet. I have a feeling that their arguments and banter would remind Macduff of arguments with Duncan while being an advisor. The dynamic between First Lady Abbey Bartlet and President Bartlet is also reflective of Lady Macduff and Macduff’s relationship. Lady Macduff is angry at Macduff for leaving their family and putting their family in danger with Macduff’s sense of duty to his country. This is reflective in Abbey criticising her husband for putting his health or the safety of their children at risk by working too hard and through certain orders. Leo is also known for putting work first and gets a divorce because of it. Bartlet and Mcgarry represent the a trait that is often included in masculinity. The trait of overworking at the expense of the people around them is worth it in the end and that nobody can ever truly understand their sacrifice except for people like them.  I think Macduff would find their overall loyalty and moral commendable, even use it as a justification for his own actions, even outside of the one time where he left his family unprotected.

Blue Bloods is a show about a family of Irish-American Catholic police officers in New York City. The father, Frank Reagan, is the Police Commissioner and his children are apart of the New York criminal justice system. There is frequent bickering between one of his son, a detective, and his daughter, an assistant district attorney, disagree on what is allowed under law and to what extent the police should go. Each family member represents a different aspect of police work, allowing the show to reflect the mechanics of their jobs while keeping up family drama. Macduff would be drawn to this show because of the family as the core cast and the elements of the everyday bureaucracy that is included through Frank’s job that is not necessarily shown in other police shows. Frank would also fulfill the masculine aspect of control and justice that Macduff seeks as well, given that one of Frank’s son was killed by dirty cops before the beginning of the show.  

Continuing with the police theme in Macduff’s queue, Law and Order (the original) is up next. Though it has dramaticized elements, Macduff would appreciate its partial base on real life events and attempt to do episodes on relevant issues. All lead characters try to stick by a moral code in bringing justice, even if their code might conflict with that of those around them. Also seeing the justice system play out in a more hopeful light than that of reality would also be encouraging to Macduff, who may have lost hope in finding justice for his friends and family. The detectives also emulate the masculine quality of professional detectives until personal elements are involved and the viewer cannot help but sympathized with the character in that point of the story line, just like when Macduff finally kills Macbeth.

Witch-Slapped: Absolute Power

2. "Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely." - Lord Acton
To what extent would Shakespeare agree with this statement? Use the play and your own experience as your support.

Shakespeare would greatly support this statement, not only because it reflects the major themes of several of his plays, but also reflects what he must have experienced while serving under Queen Elizabeth and King James. If Shakespeare did harbor disappointment at the lack of real change that came with James’ rule, it is possible that Shakespeare saw it as James being swayed by the power he now had and how difficult having that power would become if he was to go against Parliament as well as the majority Protestant population. Which, is a situation that could also explain some of the situations between Congress and the Obama administration in American politics today. Though, Parliament and Congress exist so absolute power cannot be accessed by one individual, there is one position that is viewed as the ultimate achievement, and that position has potential to have more social or cultural power than any other singular person. Shakespeare may have also seen corruption under Elizabeth, especially with the level of censorship Shakespeare experienced when writing for her. Part of her corruption was in creating an environment that restricted any political criticisms in general and held themes that would be entertaining to the court and not necessarily the lower classes.

In the pyramid of power, the greater the distance and greater consequences come with being higher in the power structure. After Macbeth fulfills the prophecy by killing his king, he is now fearful of not only losing his position because of his actions being revealed and dying, but of also having everything Macbeth has done and agonized over be proven worthless. This is supported by Macbeth saying:

We have scorched the snake, not killed it.

She’ll close and be herself whilst our poor malice

Remains in danger of her former tooth.

But let the frame of things disjoint, both the worlds suffer,

Ere we will eat our meal in fear, and sleep

In the affliction of these terrible dreams

That shake us nightly. Better be with the dead,

Whom we, to gain our peace, have sent to peace,

Than on the torture of the mind to lie

In restless ecstasy. (Act 3, Scene 2, lines 15-22)

In this way having power at the expense of his actions has not only corrupted Macbeth's morals but are corrupting his health and mental well-being. Macbeth knows that once he has begun with this violence, he cannot stop with just Duncan to secure his position as king and has to kill Banquo and Fleance, otherwise the things in the prophecy like Banquo's son becoming king will come true. At this point, Macbeth is beyond the point of believing the authenticity of the prophecy, but is now about Macbeth's desperation to hold onto his ultimate power.

Part of the absolute corruption that comes with absolute power is in the decrease in sanity in the sense that a person becomes truly desperate when trying to retain his power, especially if the power came through illegal acts. It is different when an ambitious person is trying to rise in station because they are not thinking about how much they could lose, but primarily of how much they can gain. Though there is doubt shown by Macbeth before he kills Duncan, there is less concern for his morals in killing Duncan after he does it because Macbeth then focuses in on the threat Banquo and his son poses to his new position. This is evident in how Macbeth talks about Duncan versus Banquo after he killed them. In the previous quote, Macbeth almost seems grateful that he had already done the worst to Duncan. In the presence of Banquo's ghost, Macbeth rants this:

If charnel houses and our graves must send

Those that we bury back, our monuments

Shall be the maws of kites. (Act 3, Scene 4, lines 74-76)

asking why the dead are not staying in their graves, and there is no point in burying people ever again if this is the result. Macbeth's guilt and and ability to form rational thought are getting worse. Throughout the banquet scene, Macbeth is so convinced that others can see this manifestation of his guilt that he engages in a one sided argument where he admits to fearing this dead person that no one else can see, leading the lords in the room to become suspicious, even though Macbeth thought at the time he was defending his side of the story to a Banquo that others could see. This suspicion will only drive Macbeth's acts to retain power to become more desperate and harmful to the people around him. 

Freebie Post

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Jane Eyre and Social Commentary

Analyze the author’s use of irony in describing Mr. Brocklehurst’s family in the second passage. How does the author contrast this description with Mr. Brocklehurst’s lecture to Miss Temple to provide social commentary on perceptions of class during this time?

Bronte makes symmetrical comparisons to demonstrate the double standard in the expectations of the school girls versus the expectations for Mr. Brocklehurst’s family. One example is when a girl is “vain” because she has naturally curly hair and yet Mr. Brocklehurst’s own daughters and the older woman, who I assume is his mother, wear very time consuming and delicate curls. If the man truly believed that curly hair was vain, he would hold his family to the same standards because is he not just as worried about their souls, if not more? In this situation however, he obviously does not and is using things like hair styles as a way of controlling the girls and crushing their independent will.  Not to say that it would be alright if this man treated his family in this way either, in many cases men who are at this level of controlling treat their families worse than other people. But since Bronte is trying to comment more on aspects of class and the religious institution itself, that type of situation is not as relevant.

The same goes with the clothes comparison. Tuckers are a piece of linen or lace worn by women around the neck and shoulders to cover where their other clothes do not. So they are also a modesty piece, like a camisole, as well as an accent piece. They are also white which means that they can become dirty easily and could be expected to be changed out more frequently than other clothes. I assume from the Mr. Brocklehurst’s rules, that the girls use linen tuckers. Linen of course is less expensive and easier to clean than silk or velvet. This presents again a double standard for the school girls especially if they are not even allowed to get clean tuckers to wear for special occasions like having lunch with important people. Not to mention the quantity of a small amount of linen versus entire outfits of velvet and silk. This demonstrates how Mr. Brocklehurst not only thinks that the girls deserve more regulation in case of vanity and pride, but it also demonstrates how Mr. Brocklehurst thinks the girls are monetarily less worthy of even necessary pieces of clothing than his own daughters. This goes beyond religious and ethical double standards and Mr. Brocklehurst’s classism.  

Having Mr. Brocklehurst’s family enter as Mr. Brocklehurst has almost finished outlining his harsh regulations for presentation allows the audience to establish an opinion of Mr. Brocklehurst through Jane’s perspective as a mean person. When his family comes in dressed in finery with little commentary from Jane beyond their appearance, the audience comes to their own conclusion through comparing the descriptions of what the girls have versus what his family has that Mr. Brocklehurst is a huge hypocrite. Given that Bronte has control over what the characters describe, this conclusion is what she wanted the audience to make and see the double standards in her society.

Sources:

http://www.thefreedictionary.com/tucker

Deadly Sins

https://jorickch3028.wordpress.com/2011/12/05/11/ -

ZU Shoes: December 3rd, 2008

The advertisement is targeting young adult women. Most likely these women are middle class women in Australia, given that the prices of the brand are fairly reasonable before the company went under in 2015. The cultural knowledge of the audience would be urban and suburban heterosexual culture given the demographic of the models in the advertisement.

The advertisement on the left is of one woman in high heels and short silver clothes walking confidently on pavement away from a city with a clear blue sky in the backdrop with a line of well muscled shirtless white men in jeans behind her. The advertisement on a right is a mirror of the advertisement on the left, with the exception of the woman having orange hair, a short yellow dress with long sleeves, and yellow heels.The woman on the right is also walking on grass in the country with a similar line of shirtless white men behind her and reaching towards the woman. Both women are ignoring or oblivious to the pile of men behind them.

Though the object being advertised is shoe, the focus of the image is to communicate a feeling of confidence and desirability that can be achieved by wearing these brand of shoes. The trail of men are physical manifestations of the phrase “men throwing themselves at your feet” though that phrase usually has the genders reversed. The men are made helpless in their pursuit of lust and desire for these women because of their beauty or their superiority in class or wealth indicated by the women being nicely and fully clothed where the men are not.

The deadly sin being used as a persuasive tool here is lust. This is shown by the men on the ground leaning up towards and reaching towards the woman.The angle they are placed at also makes it look like the men are looking up under the dresses of the women. The image plays on the stereotype that women snub men they think are not good enough for them, which is supported by the woman on the right tilting her head up. The femininity of the women is emphasized by the hand on each of their hips which would draw attention to the sway of their hips while walking. The state of undress by the men is supposed to appeal to the lust of heterosexual women. I feel like the advertisement also reflects an aspect of representation of different races in Australian media but I do not know enough about the interaction of race and the media in Australia beyond acknowledging it is a former colony that still has issues in negotiating with indigenous populations, like America.

What's in a Name?

My first name, Julie, is of Latin origin and was very popular from the 1950's to 1970's in the United States. Julie is a deviant of the French name Julia, which means "youthful or soft-haired" , and is the feminine version of Julius. I do not find a lot of meaning in my first name.Beyond having sort of blond hair, that definition doesn't have any significance to me. Having a birthday in August and entering school later, making me one of the oldest kids in my grade has made me feel old pretty often compared to my peers, which is not fun at any age. One of my mom's cousin's is named Julie and my mom wanted to name me Julie because she thought it was pretty. It's convenient having Julie as a first name because rarely has there been more than one in any setting I am in. Though, since Julia is more common now some people think my name is Julia and there is occasionally a Julia in whatever group I am in. What is more significant to my family is my middle name Anne. My great-aunt and my aunt on my dad's side are both named Anne. Both my parents wanted my middle name to be Anne and they chose my first name based on how it would sound together with Anne. My dad's side of the family, who live in Georgia, call me Julie Anne when I visit. So Julie Anne holds more significance because it reminds me of being with family and how we have Southern traditions. My sister calls me JJ and it is a nickname I can see myself passing off as my preferred name to my future friends because it does not carry the weight of Julie or Julie Anne.

I understand what Quindlen is talking about. I do not know if I want to keep my last name Dodson even if I never get married. There is some bad history between my dad and his side of the family that I can see being repeated with me and my sister someday. I do not want to be reminded of that everyday when I sign my name. My dad likes to remind me of all the great members of his family as motivation to be the best at something, anything, and how much they would have loved to spend time with me. All I can think is that if they laughed at some of the jokes he makes or made similar jokes I would also add their names to people I should ignore to some extent for my sanity. Still, since I am left with the family I have I should be grateful, not everyone gets a family and extended family who wants to know how their doing. It does not feel so much of a blessing when you are modifying behavior to deflect conflicts within the family or towards yourself. With school, the priority is to deflect possible conflicts between you and teachers and you or other students and because of that I feel like I have not so much as filled a different identity but chose to be absent of identity outside of what people see or hear from me in class. There can't be conflict with someone who is not fully there.

Response to Atta Girl, Atwood

Hai & Sam, Minneapolis, Minnesota (2012) by Wing Young Huie.  (https://tmblr.co/ZYwbvwFzgtSG)

 These photos are a part of the “We are the Other” series, which "infuses several concepts to connect people who don’t know each other well or at all" (Huie).

Samir, or Sam, is the gentleman in black and owns the grocery store Cup Foods shown on the right. Cup Foods has a grocery store, a butcher shop, a deli, and a mobile phone business. Cup Foods is two doors down from Tip Top Haircuts which is owned by Hai. The Vietnamese owner of Tip Top Haircuts offers a variety of haircuts for $9. When this picture was taken was the first instance the two owners met. 

1 & 2. The pictures both feature the owners in front of the backgrounds of their store, mostly devoid of other people. This isolates them as the subjects of the photos. It also illuminates the transitory nature of their businesses, with how their customers goal is to pass through and move on until the businesses are needed again. In the barber shop, the two men are separated by the boy on the left, which is only emphasized by the lack of seats to the left of Sam. The right photo has the two men centered in the middle of an aisle. Given that aisles usually have customers passing through, their singular presence is more noticeable. The backgrounds also contrast areas of their businesses. This can translate to the isolation these small business owners face when their customers are the community and vice versa. The backdrops of the stores and their owners are completely unique, which is unlike a widespread Great Clips or Harris Teeter. The artists intentions was also to bring people who had never interacted with each other, sharing culture, experiences, and furthering strengthening the community. Hai immigrated from Vietnam and Samir is Muslim. They are both minorities in a community that they support and supports them. It is easy to other something because it is not seen as the norm for when people think of a role in society like small business owner or grocery store. Or maybe that is my perception of my white, middle-class background projecting onto the work.

3. The lack of interaction with the photographer or each other in the photo at least indicates that the situation is unusual for the people in the photograph. This indicates that their actions will be determined by the actions of the photographer, and by extent us the audience because we are seeing them from the photographer's perspective. This was done in the Handmaid's Tale as well when everybody was watching the Commander during The Ceremony because his actions would determine what they did. Being an other or an unusual component of an environment has the potential to radically change that environment than routines sometimes. The photographer and the unusual situation he has created disturbs the routine just as the Commander's presence and actions that are not regulated does as well. The imagrey does a good job of displaying otherness in The Handmaid's Tale. One of the most obvious examples is the color coding of the Wives, Marthas, Econowives, and Handmaids. But none of them besides the Handmaids have the white wings that limits their sight. Out of all the roles for women, interaction with Handmaids from any group is the most heavily regulated and dreaded because of the stigma relating to Handmaids and what the men think about them or the shameful lengths these women will go to to have a baby. No one wants to be too closely associated with the Handmaids for fear of being seen as corrupting them. Most people from my background probably would not want to reguarly associated with the establishments, the white walls and exposed heating vents and food brands that white tongues would have trouble pronouncing without practice. This of course is heavily linked to class-ism, racism, and xenophobia among other things. Casual conversations between the Marthas stop in recognition of otherness, just as the stillness and the lack focus and engagement of the two men with each other recognizes the otherness of each other in their personal spaces.