Kids Are All Right And The Fosters: Film Analysis

In her article, Compulsory Heterosexuality and Lesbian Existence, Rich argues that a feminist critique of compulsory heterosexual orientation for women is long over-due. Throughout history the lesbian experience has been diminished to “friendly friendships” “phases” or as sexual objects for men. In opposition to the belief that all women are attracted to men, and lesbian relationships are acts of spite towards men. She is concerned with how and why women’s choice of women as passionate comrades, life partners co-workers, lovers, tribe, has been crushed, invalidated, forced into hiding and disguise; and the virtual or total neglect of lesbian existence in a wide range of writings, including feminist scholarship. (Rich, 632) Throughout the article,

Somerville called Queering the Color-Line. In the book, Somerville weakens the argument that of same-sex relationships by saying that “Race occupies the place vacated by gender” (36). It implies that relationships should not be between different genders or different races. The evidence for this is seen in the interracial same-sexed relationships between the school girls (34), which was too seen as an “abnormality.” Through this example, the questions were raised, “why was the relationship abnormal,” “did the girl’s intimacy trouble the authorities because it was homosexual or because it was interracial?”(34). The Fosters is a show that undermines Somerville’s essay. It is a show about a foster family that has interracial same-sexed parents. In the home, there is a biological son, two adopted children, and two fostered children, from different cultural and ethnic backgrounds. Somerville would have never expected to see a same-sexed interracial couple, where the white women took on the on the masculine role, and the black women took on the feminine role; let alone a lesbian couple that is so public announced as the characters Stef and Lena Adams

When watching the film, I thought it showed very supported reasons why children and young teens shouldn’t be on powerful medications. While watching The Medicated Child many questions were brought to my attention. I think it’s hard to completely say if a child is bipolar or not. Especially, because the diagnostic and statistical manual(DSM) only shows symptoms for adults suffering from bipolar not children. Also, it can take months and even years to actually diagnose a person with full blown bipolar disorder. I think even if a child is showing clear text book symptoms of bipolar they shouldn’t be put on a huge amount of different medications. The reason being the medications have not been tested on children so the side effects are unknown.

The graphic memoir Fun Home and the short film Pariah both contribute to a conversation on intersectional politics regarding respectability and normativity. The Bechdel family in Fun Home maintain a perfectly respectable familial façade to the external world even as the complications of Bruce Bechdel’s sexual appetites and inclinations threaten to tear the family apart internally. Likewise, Alike’s gender identity and sexuality creates a conflict in her family as they try to uphold middle-class respectability. In both contexts, respectability intersects with normativity and performance of normativity, however, both texts also challenge assumptions about the ways in which respectability politics intersect with normativity, especially in regards to family and kinship dynamics.

In her essay titled “Compulsive Heterosexuality and Lesbian Existence,” Adrienne Rich claims that any alternative to heterosexual outcome is discouraged by society. The essay claims that Western tradition has used the heterosexual family model as the basic social

“I don't know how I'd live with you if you were gay, you'd be gross." This blunt statement caught my attention as I exited a local ice cream parlor the summer prior to entering high school. This remark, while radical, was not abnormal for the old fashioned and rural town I had grown up in. At first, I told myself not to let it get to me and that this mother had every right to believe what she wanted. After all, I didn't want to overthink what could have been the misinterpretation of a crude joke. When I saw the look of pure disgust at the simple thought of being gay on her daughter's face however, I felt weak and without dignity. As a lesbian myself, my esteem seemed to deteriorate like paper thrown into a fire. Nevertheless, I was inspired by this experience to analyze the state of society and to search for justice in situations where it is lacking.

In this media clip presented by Honey Maid the focus is surrounding a family of four consisting of two parents, two children, and one dog. The two parents discuss their lives as to where and how they met which was situated in a grocery store. They also confer about the process of obtaining their two sons. Their eldest son talks about his favourite memories with his parents and demonstrates how their family is very similar to other families. Throughout the clip, the household is shown doing activities that a typical family would do for example making s’mores and going on a walk with their dog. The neat aspect of the family is that they are considered to be what is known as a queer family. This is the fact because they are male same-sex parents. Their oldest child also discloses that he calls his two fathers by different labels. His “dad” is considered to be the more serious parental figure and his “papa” is regarded as the more lighthearted and funny father figure. The clip finalizes by conversing how meaningful

In Feminism is for Everyone, Part 2, Hooks continues to talk about the issues she finds most pertinent in feminism that relate directly to that to what the movement of feminism has become overtime. Hooks talks about how kids should be raised in a household that isn’t inclined to be misogynist. That a household that treats all kids fairly, of both genders, if the one that will be the best in the end. She discusses points of how even in a single parent household, kids that are raised in that environment go on to do great things because just one woman alone is all that’s needed for successful raising of children, rather than the classic concept of the two- parent household, of which she discounts as something that’s not vital to the successful

Public discourse relies on tropes of motherhood, parenting, and family: The bodies of mothers belong to feminine (Hine 2013; Kinser 2010), heterosexual, monogamous, married women (Morris and McInerney 2010). Heavily entrenched in these tropes is the notion of monomaternalism. Monomaternalism has been defined by Shelley Park (2013) as an ideology and practice that upholds the heteropatriarchal nuclear family, residing at the “intersection of patriarchy, heteronormativity, capitalism, and Eurocentrism” (7). Despite the growing number of lesbian parents, evidence suggests that many, including political and legal institutions, struggle to conceive of how a child might have more than one mother, or how lesbian and gay people are able to have children.

Western households are a site for ‘traditional’ family values because they espouse rigid gender identities and compulsory heterosexuality (Erhart 2013). Lesbian and queer families are excluded from ‘traditional’ notions of family and reproduction which constitute the ideological locus of domesticity (Hammock 2009; Seidman 1997). Societal attitudes mandate lesbian compulsory childlessness (Parks 1998) because lesbians present a threat to heterosexual family values, and are distinctly non-procreative (Thompson 2002). This rhetoric is a dynamic/static binary of family. Dynamic family forms represent ‘traditional’ families which are White, heterosexual, and functionally procreative (Thompson 2002; Farrow 2014). Unable to fulfill the

Queer theory allows us to open our eyes to the various factors that nourish heteronormativity-“promotes gender conventionality, heterosexuality, and family traditionalism as the correct way for people to be” (Oswald, Blume & Marks, 2005:143) and it also helps us to understand how structural features contribute to individuals who are permitted over others (Few-Demo et al., 2016:75; Oswald et al., 2005). Queer theory aims to destabilise what people take for granted and allows them to ask interesting questions about individual’s identities (Few-Demo et al., 2016:76). Queer theory can be seen as a “radical deconstruction and subversion” (Few-Demo et al., 2016:85; Green, 2007:28-29), which offers permission to the theorists using queer theory to imagine the complication of various identities, performativities and

Adrienne Rich attacks heterosexuality as “a political institution which disempowers women” in her 1980 essay Compulsory Heterosexuality and Lesbian Existence (Rich 23). What most see as a traditional way of life, Rich views as a societal mandate that serves as “a beachhead of male dominance,” (Rich 28). For a woman in Virginia Woolf’s time, “the one profession that was open to her [was] marriage,” and though females entered the public sphere as the 20th century progressed, “single women…are still viewed as deviant” and somewhat ostracized (Woolf 25 and Rich 30). Compulsory heterosexuality, Rich argues, is one of many institutions that historically and currently have allowed men to maintain a dominant societal

Many movies from the 20th century put a negative connotation on the lesbian community by making viewers have the idea that lesbians live a depressing lifestyle and are ‘dark’ individuals. However, that changed in the 21st century when more media portrayed lesbians more positively by showing how they are individuals just like everyone else. Typically. society stereotypes lesbians to be either “butch” or “femme”. Butch lesbians dress in a more masculine manner than other women who don’t, they are called femme. This Is a way for people to categorize gender, sexual identity and sexual relationships in the gay community. This movie refutes the stereotype that all lesbians are butch, dress like men or have masculine characteristics because it portrays

The show ‘Last Man Standing’ is an American show about the Baxter family. Mike Baxter and his wife, Vanessa, have three daughters, all of whom are living at home. Mike, living with four females, is trying to maintain his masculinity. Within episode nine of season one, a new couple moves into Mike and Vanessa 's neighbourhood. Vanessa meets Rebecca while out for a walk and invites her and Charlie over for dinner. When Mike answers the door to see that Charlie is actually a female, he is initially put off by the couple being lesbians. During the course of dinner and conversation, Mike hits it off with Charlie and is impressed by the similar interests they share. Mike and Charlie become pals and make plans to go riding, while Vanessa and Rebecca go antiquing. After riding, the two come back to Mike 's to drink beer and watch the Broncos’ game. The two of them were throwing jokes back and forth at one another, when Mike accidentally insults Charlie and she goes home. Throughout this paper, I will be critically evaluating the show ‘Last Man Standing’ using queer theory and feminist theory to illustrate how the themes of heteronormativity and gender roles are evident in this particular episode.

One-hundred pennies looks, feels, and weighs a lot different than a one dollar bill, yet they are for sure equal in the end. The pennies are different in so many ways from the bill but they both are going to equal or become the same thing whether it is an ice-cream cone or a cheap toy. The same goes for babies, babies from all parts of the world grow up in different societies and cultures. They do have unequal things about their infant worlds, such as having or not having a playground or having little food or a bunch of food. Through all these differences there is still one equal and same objective, to raise the baby so that it can survive in the culture or place it will grow up in. In the movie Babies there are