Gender And Drama Flashcards
(27 cards)
What is Jessies Problem with her mother?
Communication
Power
Individuality and self
Dependence
“No Mama! THIS is how i have my say. This is how i say what i thought about or ALL and i say no.”
What does this quote reveal?
Jessies independence from mother, her right to say no, her moment when She takes power and responsibility for her life
What does Chodorow say about mother-daughter relationships?
Mothers see daughters as extensions of themselves and at some point there has to be a rupture in this strong bound for the daughter to create and develop an own personality outside of the the relationship with the mother in order to become independent
What is the problem of epilepsy in Night Mother?
Mother never told Jessie to not make her feel strange/different and to make her dependent on her (only mother-daughter intimacy) but Jessie feels different without knowing why
Why does Jessie kill herself?
To have Control over her life for once, feels useless, She is dissatisfied with the person She is and has become
What are the different methods of coping with their lives and disappoibtments in Night Mother?
Jessie commits suicide, mother replaces needs with food and talking and making her daughter depend on her
In what way do mother and Jessie share the way they feel about themselves?
They are disappointed by themselves, they feel alienated from each other and society, they don’t really have an identity without each other
Why does Jessie tells her mother that she wants to kill herself?
2 possible ways to interpret it:
1) to torture her and revenge the mother for having raised her as she is
2) in order to give her the chance to not be responsible and understand why Jessie is doing it
- she shows her development to an own person, apart from her mother, with an own identity
What are the main disappointments in Heidi’s life?
Betrayal of sisterhood by Susan, Peter being gay and not wanting to marry her, scoop marrying Lisa, the realization that she can’t “have it all”
How does Heidi become the strong, individual, female identity in the end?
By surpassing all of the disappointments she lived through in relationships with different people, because she lives her ideal/ vision and because she is happy and feels complete even without a man.
What significance does the adoption of a baby have for Heidi?
It has been critically discussed:
1) it can be seen as a personal and ideological loss for her by selling out and living an incomplete, traditional family life and her failure in “living up to her full potential”
2) it can be seen as personal and ideological win because she is a woman and wants a baby, which is a very courageous thing to do, because she just follows her ideology of a women’s power to do what she wants and to strive for everything she dreams of
What does Freud say about “die Weibkichkeit”?
“Anatomy is destiny” gender as connected to biological/anatomical distinction between man and woman
- Oedipus crisis and fear of castration
What does Simone de Bouvoir say in “the second sex”?
Gender is a choice but the woman always is the “other” - contrastive definition: women are defined as relative to the man
- gender determines how to enact your sex
What does Judith Butler say about gender?
Doing gender (performative theory), no set norms, gender is connected to anatomy but not defined by it. Gender is not a static entity, but rather a matter of choice and social construction.
Who says that gender is a way of “doing the body”?
Judith Butler
Who does Michael Kimmel concentrate on, from which perspective does he see the gender discussion?
He comes from masculinity studies in America and focuses on the fact that”manhood,” in the framework of the “self-made man”, has to be proved over and over and approved by other men (but: homophobia)
Division of 2 models: 1)genteel patriarch and heroic artesan, 2) marketplace manhood
What are the 4 guidelines of manhood in Kimmel?
1) don’t have anything remotely feminine
2) have power, success, wealth, status
3) no emotions and be in control
4) aura of daring and aggression
What is heteronormativity?
The standard of hetersoexuality
How does Gallimard try to define his identity?
Self-definition by othering which leads to the binarity of genders (if Song is a woman, I am a man, if Song is a man, I have to be a woman — homophobic)
What are the Main difference between Puccinis Madame Butterfly and Hwangs M Butterfly?
The binary categories (man/woman, East/West, superior/submissive) are deconstructed in Hwang and a thirdness-category is established.
What is the gender/racial power reversal in M Butterfly?
Categories become unclear and not easy to distinguish anymore, genders and power switches characters
Why is Song a good example of Butlers doing gender thesis?
Because he acts both genders out in different ways, but staying consistently the same person
Why is fertility important in M Butterfly?
Gallimard and Helga have problems in getting a child and he feels emasculated. When Song tells him she is pregnant he gains it back again.
How is the idea of the West constructed and deconstructed in True west?
Austin constructs the West by pointing out the freedom of living in the desert, then romanticized it and by romanticizing it, deconstructs it, seeing that freedom can also result in homelessness and the feeling of not belonging.
