Week 12: "Superman and the Bride"

As the video, Sexual Stereotypes in Media: Superman and the Bride, stated we have tons of messages that come from our newspapers, radios, and magazines that all influence the decisions we make. One sentence that stood out to me from the film was that it was MASS produced. This should be shocking to us because we don't think much of television, radio, or newspaper ads. Most of the time they influence what type of person we want to be and how we should make our relationships work. It also stated: ".. you get what you want, you want what you get," and I believe this is such a true statement for our culture today and I have seen it myself, I will even share my own recent experience and example.
We go thorough our day to day lives seeing the things around us thinking we are no person to change what we see because it is what society wants. The only reality to this is that we don't change things because we don't care to see them changed. People who complain about something but don't take a stand against it are just passive and indifferent about it. Men are portrayed in media as strong, driven, decisive, and fearless while women are shown as weak, inferior, useless unless given direction, and usually wanting to please men. In my eyes these stereotypes are not as existent as they were in the video but for the most part stereotypes have not changed. We as individuals begin to question this and ask, why this is so. And it is just as I have stated above. People are INDIFFERENT about these types of stereotypes because they never challenge them and accepted them their whole life. I am not passing judgment because I am guilty of this also but it doesn't makes sense to accept the things we are spoon fed our whole lives. Not only are we not acting out against it but we begin to believe this as a true statement or type of way things should be. Only because it is being told to us. Not because we have our own reasoning for it. This is what is the scary part. The movie tells it like it is because we do not act out to change things we see on television or advertisements we don't like, or that are stereotypical.
My experience with this was this new commercial passed by the Axe hair/body products advertised on television and radio. The link is at the bottom of this post but it was a shocking commercial that I did not expect. Although the meaning is slightly covered up I just was shocked at the way that society is now including this type of vulgarity into live television that is accessible to millions of children worldwide. I only say this because I work with children and it is very offensive to hear the term "balls" from a 6 year old's mouth. Not to mention when they are using it in the appropriate offensive context. Maybe the sexual context is too much for me because I have not been exposed to it as much as other people. It's not so much vulgarity as it is the use of terms like this in a way that is meant to be funny or entertaining for people. I know that male testicles are natural in every way but this commercial I thought went slightly overboard. Any comments about it? I know I laughed at the commercial but for children who are exposed to this type of language and behavior is kind of a shock that they would even allow it to air. This relates back to the class because of the image of men that it portrays as well, did you notice the guy in the row with so called "blue balls". Or the way that this is supposed to help you get in better with the "ladies". I know it is probably trying to reach and older audience but it just gave me a bit of shock and how this is probably affecting much more than its intended audience. The media is very powerful indeed. We also see what we want because apparently this is accepted by "society".. I just thought that was interesting.




Here is the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bevJr3Ra84Q