When thinking about male strippers, people don’t objectify
them as harshly as females. When it comes to men stripping it is for
entertainment, but for women it is for sexual pleasure. Although I have not
seen “Magic Mike: XXL,” after reading all of the interpretations, I would have
to agree the most with Sophie Gilbert. In the article she talks about how the
movie switches the gender roles by having women play the empowered role instead
of men. “Otherwise, it’s a narrative structured entirely around the
objectification of men and the veneration of women, whatever their age or body
type. In the sense that almost all the female characters have money to dole out
to men.” Another thing she said was, “…stripping is a fun and fulfilling career
for men and a miserable one for women…because women are simply better at doing
the objectifying—they can appreciate men as bodies and souls together rather
than pieces of meat. Perhaps this is why Mike helps his friends get more
creatively involved with their routines, so that they can express their
personalities through their art and feel less like generic
firemen/policemen/rent-a-hunks,” which is also saying that men want to be
looked at more than the “generic strippers” and for their bodies (which is what
men to do women) and that both the male and female characters in the movie do
more than what is the norm.The weakest interpretation to me was Megan Garber, because
she was focused on how it portrayed mainly what women want according to men but
that was not the deeper message that was trying to be depicted in the movie. Yes,
it showed how the men wanted to do everything right for the women and there’s
nothing wrong with that but the underlying purpose if more important. That the
men and women in the movie both want and exhibit the fulfillment they want and
deserve.
I agree with you Elli, male strippers aren’t as objectified as their female counterparts. Male strippers are portrayed more as entertainment, not purely as sexual objects. As Sophie Gilbert said, “..women are simply better at doing the objectifying,”. Women are also allowing the men to feel better about themselves. This gender-reversal allows men to, like you said “express their personalities through their art and feel less like generic [men]. I feel that this film really allowed people to look away from the norms in order to make their decisions. It allows them to ignore their precautions about being themselves. The film had women in the power-role, but depicted them as better objectifiers than men. This was to show that even if women were in the same position as men to objectify, they wouldn’t have the same one-track mindset. Men generally objectify with one thought: sex; while women are able to look past the men’s outward appearances, and analyze things like their personality.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you on what you’re saying about how male strippers aren’t objectified as badly as female strippers. People usually do not frown upon male stripping and throw degrading names around like a slut or a whore. Although people do this to women. It Is a totally different story and it all relates back to gender norms. I honestly loved how this movie put women up higher and gave them more power just because you do not see that as much. Like you said they played the empowered role which was great. Once again I do not think that people normally look this far into it. She is writing an article analyzing the movie which I get but I didn’t feel this movie had enough things wrong with it or anything that stuck out about feminism enough to come out of the movie and think about everything that was done wrong. It would be easy to analyze any movie and nit pick about everything that was wrong if there was time or a purpose. In conclusion I think I just disagree with this article as a whole because it is not really a big deal. Magic Mike was a great movie and people shouldn’t think too far into it.
ReplyDeleteWhile I agree with you on the fact that men stripping is for entertainment, I do not agree that women strippers view their job as miserable. Although women are viewed as objects more than men, I think that women strippers can be viewed as entertainment in the same way that men are. Recently I watched a video of women strippers pranking their clients. They would bring the men up into a room to give them a lap dance, and then once they left a "zombie stripper" would appear and freak the men out. This emphasizes that women can have fun in their jobs as strippers just as much as men can. A lot of the women who strip actually do enjoy their job as strippers. It gives them a sense of empowerment, and also helps build up their confidence and sexuality. If stripping was "a miserable career for women", then I'm sure there wouldn't be as many women volunteering to become strippers.
ReplyDeleteI do agree with you that male strippers are however not objectify as badly as female strippers. However, I do not agree with you on male being strippers as an entertainment and women view their jobs as miserable. I know from experience that some of the women I know who are strippers love their job. Male strippers are still strippers regardless. It’s a job even though they are not as popular as female strippers are but they are both the same. A lot of women who are strippers is because they have a passion for it and it’s what helps them pay for bills and other necessities. At the end I like the fact that Magic Mike switches the gender norms through out the movie showing that men can act just the same as women. I like that the movie empowers the women and make them the leader instead of men being the ones leading all the time. After all it’s just a movie and I honestly don’t know why people take it so seriously. I just like the movie because all the guys are super hot and it’s super entertaining to watch because it’s funny.
ReplyDelete