The role of gender in these videos is viewed very stereo-typically. The focus is that boys are good at throwing,
running, kicking, etc. and that girls simply are not. However, the second video goes on to defy these stereo-types put on girls.
“You play ball like a girl” – The Sandlot
“… like a girl” – Always Commercial
The YouTube clip that I found that portrays stereotypical
gender roles is from the movie, The
Sandlot. In this scene two groups of
boys are at a baseball field and fighting about being “an insult to the game”. The two leaders of the group go back and
forth with comebacks at each other. This
comebacks start as simply insults to one another such as jerk, idiot, and moron
and escalate to saying, “you play ball like a girl”. This final comment despite the countless
before is the one that stops the fighting and silences the fight. However, this silence is not due to a mutual
understand of how inappropriate, wrong, and disrespectful the comment was but
because that comeback is viewed as the most hurtful to the group of boys. This demonstrates hegemony, as stated on page
39 of our textbook. “Hegemony is the power of dominance that one social group
holds over others.” This difference in
power among boys and girls is immensely strong in the lives of people today. The
target audience is all boys- young, old, and in between. Comments and comebacks such as “you play ball
like a girl” is taught to boys at an early age to be a negative and
something/someone that one never wishes to be compared to. This comment is sadly effective in reaching
the audience because boys, of all ages, can relate to this and know that they
do not want to ever be compared to a girl- especially when it comes to a
situation involving sports.
The second YouTube clip, takes this comment and others
like it one step further. This video
asks both girls and boys to do acts “like a girl”. For example, running and throwing. Both girls and boys that have reached puberty
mimic these acts to dictate a negative connotation. However, when asked the same things to
children, the girls run and throw just as they normally would- as girls. The target audience is girls, however, the
video also speaks to all genders. This
is seen by asking a boy if his imitation would insult his sister, he tries to
say not her but other girls. How is this
okay? The goal and effectiveness of this
video reaches a wide spread of diverse audiences. This is effective because even throughout the
short clip the view and stereotype of how women treat themselves changes. If only more young girls could see that doing
something “like a girl” is not a bad thing than maybe the men in the world
could better begin to realize that doing something “like a girl” is not a disability.
I find your choice of the two contrasting clips to be interesting and well thought out because the first clip is from the early 1990's while the second clip is more modern. It shows how, as you stated, the "difference in power among boys and girls" is timeless. The quote "you play like a girl" as well as the hashtag "like a girl" still exists today and has been around for generations. The connotation that comes with playing like a girl is unfair. It shows how females are limited to what they can do; it is also extremely insulting given today’s female leaders in society. The second clip which contrasts the first is brilliant because it acts as a message to males. Young men need to realize how this negative connotation affects young girls’ confidence levels and mind set.
ReplyDeleteI was actually thinking about choosing the Always ad as well. It is very interesting how you can see how a girl's mind changes as she matures, and how she is impacted by society's stereotypes. The young girls believe that the phrase "like a girl" is empowering. But as you see in this video, when the young woman is shown, it seems she has taken the same phrase as a demeaning one. The difference between the two girls is that one has been influenced by the negativity of society, and one has not.
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