Laura Menzel Blog #10: Savage Women

Sex.  Finally.  This class is about sex AND race, but the majority of this semester has been spent discussing race.  Race is of course still a very relevant issue to our society, but as Prof. Aguas mentioned, sex is still much more taboo.  This brings me to Savage Nights.

In class, much of our debate was spent trying to understand how Laura could go for such a crappy, disrespectful guy.  I could go into rationalizations to play devil's advocate, but instead I'm going to say that it doesn't matter.  Laura is a fictional character.  We can't save her.  So, what does this film say about sex and womanhood?

One woman.  Competing with a man.  For the affections of another man.  How often do we see that represented in media?  Perhaps the reason this situation seems so foreign is because we still have rigid ideas of gender and relationships.  Young, in her essay, "Lived Body vs. Gender", suggests "we throw over the concept of gender altogether and renew a concept of the lived body derived from existential phenomenology, as a means of theorizing sexual subjectivity without danger of either biological reductionism or gender essentialism" (12).  The times they are a-changing.  And maybe it's time our gender roles changed as well.

This brings me to another time period when the role of women changed - Tudor era England, specifically the reign of Henry VIII.  Prof. Aguas mentioned an HBO show called The Tudors that follows Henry VIII's reign.  Coincidentally, I have been re-watching the entire series with my roommates for the past month or so.  I love it.  Because I love this time period.  And because Anne Boleyn is one of the most interesting female characters in history.

Here's a little backstory.  Henry VIII is married to Catherine of Aragon (Spain).  At the time, everyone is Catholic.  Martin Luther was on the rise in Germany, but he had been declared a rebel and heretic by the Church, so the Protestant Reformation was still struggling to take hold.  The problem with Queen Catherine is she is considerably older than Henry VIII, and can no longer have children.  Henry VIII, after growing up with his father's struggle to unite a warring England, does not want to die without a male heir.  In comes Anne Boleyn.  Of course, Henry VIII has many mistresses, including Anne's sister, and even children with them, but they are all bastards, and putting them on the throne would surely cause a riot.

Anne is smart.  And she is also a Protestant.  She convinces the king that he must remarry to produce a legitimate male heir.  When the Pope refuses an annulment, Anne tells him that if he renounces Catholicism, he can be the head of a Church of England and grant himself a divorce.  He does so, and marries Anne.

What is the point of this (regrettably long) backstory?  That Anne got what she wanted.  She became queen of England and furthered the success of her religion.  I like to think of Anne Boleyn as a feminist of sorts for controlling her own destiny, but there were also some unfortunate consequences to her actions.  With the creation of divorce, men could overthrow their wives - and leave them without financial support.  A widow can remarry, but a divorcee is shameful.  Today, men and women are on much more equal playing ground, but relationships are still governed by gender roles.  As we watch Savage Nights, I see an ambitions woman competing for the affections of a man in power, just as Anne Boleyn competed for the favor of Henry VIII.

BLOG 10! Sam Quinn

Address your journey in 332. Did you change? What did you discover about yourself? Your community? What will you do with what you learned?

Wah my journey in this class has been so memorable and worth it! I don't want it to be over, and it makes me wish/seek classes that will make me want to participate as actively as I have done in this one.

That being said, I do feel like I have changed as a result of our sexy-racy 332 experience...but I'm not done changing! I discovered that it is ok to talk about and ask questions about even sensitive topics in your community, because it allows you to grow! GROW: what does that even mean? To me, I can say I have grown when I make some form of progress that seems significant to me as an individual. It isn't always recognizable by the community, when an individual grows a bit, but over the stretch of this class I feel confident saying I have been able to tangibly see many of us grow...which just makes me wonder how much else people have personally progressed in their 'journey' as a result form this experience, despite it not always being visible!

I didn't ever think to take a class in this direction before this semester at William and Mary, and in retrospect, I wish I had started sooner. I've really enjoyed analyzing our classrooom community, and using the critical lense we developed to analyze my position in the other communities I consider myself a part of! In Branch Out, when I went to Kenya this winter I learned and talked a little bit about a technique called Asses Based Community Development (ABCD). My co-site leader and I used it to assess both our own group assets and deficiencies, as well as our community partners. It really helped me to understand how aid can be most effective, by seeing what assets each individual brought to our team, and whether or not they matched up with any deficiencies found in our community. But what was really worthwhile was reversing the project, and finding that during our trip, many of the assets in the little Village in Kenya fit in with our deficiencies: their knowledge of permaculture and sustainability really helped build our understanding of our partnership! 

TANGENT, I know, but my point is...while reflecting on our one community in 332 is awesome, I have learned that in order to really take the developments we've made and run with them, I have to compare it and put it in context with other communities at large, to find out where and how I can make an impact. This is what I want to do with what I have learned. We have been taught in this class that QUESTIONS lead to more than answers, and so my goal is to continue to question aspects of situations and environments that I involve myself in. Furthermore, I want to continue to take classes that give me more insight into sustainable community development, as it is a real interest to me!

Thank you so much for helping me learn and share so much in just a brief part of my journey, you guys! Professor, peers, this class really has been the best!

Jessie Dzura, Live Blog, Savage Nights

Savage Nights

I hate needles

No gloves??

He drives way too fast in parking garages! (super masculine figure—sports car, rock music, controlling lens of the camera—controlling audience perspective)

Very odd sexual moments where sexuality is ambiguous

Idea of France as very sexual country

Street hookups?

Age of loss of virginity (13)

“Do you often lie?” “It makes the world bearable”

Masculine identities—rubgy—male sexual relationships

Laura cares that he is bisexual

Threesome--- so easy!

-          Pouting!

Crying after sex… womp

Stereotypes about gay men and pleasure

HIV!!!!

How does Laura not care? Why wouldn’t she use a condom??

I don’t understand this relationship.

Clinger stage 5

AZT joke??!?!

Laura is off the handle crazy.

Depressing attempts to feel alive

Why are all the women crazy??

… and now they all sleep together.

Blog #10, Jessie Dzura- The Times Are a Changing

What have I learned in 332? Well, it certainly has been an interesting semester for me (even though I'm not sure I would attribute it to this class). As a second semester senior, I learned a lot about who I am now and what I want for the future. Yikes! I'm graduating in less than a month now. Do I have a future? Not really... As of now, I have job offers, but not where I want them to be. I want to be in D.C. doing international development work or national security work with an NGO or NPO. But not having a certain future has made me think a lot about who I am. So. Who am I? As is obvious, I am a 22 year old female from Richmond, VA. I like to think that I have some sort of southern charm and excellent taste in music. Over the past semester, I have really figured out the musical part of who I am. I. Love. Pianists. Regina Spektor, Amanda Palmer, etc. I think it is because I have a very independent, strong, feminist side that I associate with these musicians. I have also figured out what I want for the future, in terms of a relationship. Over spring break, I got the best relationship advice (Ever!) from one of my favorite professors. She told me that you should find someone who makes you the best person you can be. For me, that means I want someone to grow with and someone that wants the same active lifestyle as me. From the class, I got a truly greater appreciation for how strong my view points are. Even though I mostly keep to myself during class time, the issues we discuss carry with me through the day. Also, I tend to disagree with a lot of the people in the class (or the way they phrase things). I also think I might be one of the more liberal people in the class. As for my community, I'm not sure I have discovered my community. I think, because I am in such a place of transition, that a community is hard to identify with at the moment. With what I have learned about myself, I think it will be easier for me to find a community wherever I end up in the world. I do not fault this class for the lack of personal growth and development that the professor desired. I was already set in my ways, and am an incredibly stubborn person, so I'm not sure (that at my wise old age. lol) that I was going to "develop" or "learn much".

Blog 10: My journey and my community by Matt Antezana

My journey in 332 began on the first day of class walking into class and sitting down in a chair not knowing what to expect. At first it felt just like any other class with a bunch of students who looked like drones just ready to take notes from a lecture and leave. Professor Aguas then told us that we were more of a community than a random group of students but this just felt like meaningless words to me when I first heard them. Early on in the semester it didn't seem like a community because not very many people talked or expressed themselves. I didn't even feel that comfortable talking because I felt that it would be like other classes where if you didn't have a promising point to make, that involved the reading or some theory, then you shouldn't make it. However that's where the formation of the community came into place because like a real community you were contributing to the class by stating your thoughts which ultimately drive the discussion and teach us the objectives of the course.

I definitely did change during my time in 332. I learned that class could be more like a community where every thought you have can contribute to the overall understanding of a topic and where you can express every emotion instead of just the seriousness that is usually associated with a college class. The course helped me feel calmer in class and taught me to think in new ways because it made me focus more on the community instead of solely on myself. I discovered that it's alright to just speak your mind in class and that expressing yourself is just as important as taking notes. I also discovered that everybody else is in the position as me which allows us to more open and that's what makes us a tighter community. I learned that we can all function as a community in different ways and roles with certain people talking and others contributing their thought on the blogs. I also learned that in a community setting you can learn just as much than in a stereotypical individual driven setting and you can also learn on a much deeper level in a community setting. I will take what I have learned in 332 into future work environments that I'm in and future classroom settings because I believe it will help me participate better in group environment. What I have learned will allow me to better engage with my peers and cooperate on a much deeper level. I will also be able to learn in different ways instead of just the usual individual lecture based class.

Savage Nights Live Blog 4/16 by Matt Antezana

So these are just some notes I took in class during our viewing of Savage Nights, I hope that they contribute in some way to discussion/understanding concerning the movie. And also these were done on the fly.

The lead character is a film director named Jean. Jean represents a very masculine almost stereotypical male lead in a film, especially in the scene when he's driving his red convertible listening to music generally associated with men. However he is also bisexual and is liberal about sex such as in the scene at night when he's with random men under a bridge. Laura who lost her virginity at 13 and the scene where she tells Jean of how she lost her virginity made me think that she only did it because she felt like it was her role as a female. She also lies about being 18 and that made me think that she wants to appear older more like a woman. Jean also has feelings for his friend Samy who lives a stereotypical male life with a woman as a partner and plays rugby. Paco, the guy singing in Spanish, has a very stereotypical latino name. He is HIV positive and when he tells his friend his is positive he asks if he's gay because he associates that lifestyle with the disease. They portray Laura as being almost weaker and not caring about herself because she just wants to be with Jean even though he has AIDS. Samy and Jean also have a relationship. Also Jean assumes a gay man infected him when he tells Laura that he's been with a bunch of shady guys even though it seems he has also been with multiple women. Even though Jean does many negative things in the movie and has no real redeeming qualities as he is self-centered, he is portrayed as a sort of tragic hero since he is dying. However potentially ruins the lives or at least has possible severe negative effects on the other characters. The question I have is: what does Jean's sex and gender roles have to do with the way he is portrayed? What do you think the director Cyril Collard wanted the audience to get out viewing his film (his purpose in making the film)?

Blog 10 john wang

Address your journey in 332. Did you change? What did you discover about yourself? Your community? What will you do with what you learned?

When I first walked into 332 I expected to have a lot of conversations about topics that are usually perceived as “edgy.” I wasn’t sure what I was supposed to learn through the class. I would say I have changed throughout the course of 332. I am much more perceptive to the way different peoples are portrayed by cameras whether it is media, movies, or photographs. I have also become a great deal more aware of hegemony in my country, as well as my communities. I think the most valuable lesson taught is to be perceptive, and not accept things that they are just the way things are. Things change, can change, and will continue to change for better or worse. Through 332, I realized that I’m much more concerned with making my life better rather than making the lives of others in my community better. Not to sound arrogant but I learned my community could really use me and I plan on applying my life towards service of the communities I care about.

Blog 9

What is private and public in the community?

It is much easier to say what is public in community. Things that are universally public in community include people's physical appearance and their voice. Things that can be public or private include people’s values, beliefs, religion, and sexual orientation. Things that are private in the community are things people decide not to share.

What is the place of nation in your personal life?

I would say my allegiances are in order of God, immediate family, close friends, friends, acquaintances, people around me, and then state, and then region, and then country/nation.