So the rough draft of our essay is due on Friday. I am actually having a little bit of writer's block; it's just hard to organize my thoughts. There are so many different aspects of each kind of category that I don't really know how to unify them. I hope that I can piece them all together well enough. I've actually been tempted to delve into the deeper psychological aspects of each kind of of topic, but I think that would go a little too off track. I'm not the greatest argumentative writer, so I hope that this turns out alright. And I feel like there's so much to be said about these kinds of things too, but then I can't seem to set them out in a coherent manner. I think it will probably be alright, though.

Freaks

I am just grateful that so much has changed since the time that this movie was made. First, I find it pretty upsetting that there were actual exhibitions like this where the differences between people were drawn upon. It's obvious that the "freaks" in the show were in a kind of family unit, but I think it's sad that they came together as part of sideshow. Like the "mother" of the ones with microcephaly. She obviously cares for them, but still allows them to be paraded around as part of a laugh for someone else. It's just sad to me. And they don't really know any better, either. And then there was the ending. The retribution laid upon Cleo. Although her end seems just, I don't agree with it. I think it just reinforces the idea that "freaks" like them are dangerous, and widens the gap between "normal" people and anyone who seems different. I don't really think that extreme of a measure was deserved. All that does is continue a cycle of fear and mistrust. I know that overall, the film humanized those with physical deformities- however, seeing poor Zip(or Pip) advancing in the rain with a knife in her hand!- was one of the most frightening images of all. Seeing someone who wouldn't know better taught to think or act that way- that to me, is one of the most frightening and dangerous things imaginable.

Masculine Mystique

I thought the interview with Sylvester Stallone was pretty interesting. Despite all of the media's emphasis on physicality, being regarded solely as a physical being seems like it can have the same degree of damaging effects as lacking those kinds of attributes. And then it must be more difficult for the guys. Any kind of disorders that have to do with image are less common in men and only more recently have they been put symbolically into the same kind of image group as women. So to realize men have the same fears and problems as women regarding image is something we're probably not used to. I guess in a way it's good because these kinds of things have at least made us more aware of the feelings and thoughts that surround a person's image. But then I also think that maybe it's just another telltale sign of the pressures of image and appearance, and that nothing will really change that. All that's changed is the addition of men to the group of normally targeted people for physically demanding jobs or lifestyles. Well in any case, men and women are at least more aware of the feelings they both share regarding these types of things.