Masculinity In Avatar

Women today are still battling with the stereotypes given to them many years ago. Women are seen as less than men, they are expected to stay home and take care of the children and absolutely never be more successful than a man. They are not supposed to be seen as the hero in a situation because heroes are seen as masculine men, not women. More shows and movies are starting to fight back against these stereotypes. One show in particular, NCIS or the Naval Criminal Investigative Service, portrays women as strong and successful. It gives women a chance to show how confident they can be in themselves and that they can also be considered the hero. NCIS shows through Abby and Ziva that women can be successful and the hero, which provides women with a strong and heroic role model to emulate.

Society’s current structure of masculinity is unforgiving in form. It cuts out other forms of masculinity, it physically and mentally demanding, and its ill effects extend far beyond the men it infuses itself in. Yet what would we do if we were given other options for masculinity, ones that allowed for unique blends of attitudes and perceptions? Looking in to the lives of homeless men we can see the forced strategies which create new masculine codes created for the adaption against patriarchal pressures. They are made out of survival need to circumnavigate the painful mental and physical reality that is only made worse by harsh masculine standards. Yet these new masculinities hold out a form of hopefulness for society. They offer up new discussion to what it means to be a man, the potential for change, and what we can expect from changes in male identity over time. Using what we learn from the disadvantaged, we can hope to improve the lives of people, although the process will take time, effort, and careful mediation.

In James Cameron's film Avatar, the protagonist, Jake Sully, undergoes a change throughout the narrative, this being from an apathetic soldier to person who thinks about and cares for the world around him. Jake is important to us because he allows us to understand the dangers of our actions. This idea is represented to us through characterisation and dialogue.

To read Babio without recognizing the gender politics at work in the play would disregard much of how the play itself creates meaning. So much of the play’s plot and character dynamics are related to the way gender functions in this play. One major theme of Babio is the idea of masculinity and how masculinity is defined. Through the portrayal of Babio as an effeminate character, Babio is able to define masculinity through absences in Babio’s Character. Consequently, Babio makes the additional point that lovesickness is not an intrinsic aspect of medieval masculinity, despite the fact that love sickness is often attributed to men.

Avatar is a futuristic movie where the natives, the Na?vi, of Pandora live on the mine full of this valuable mineral. The relationship between the Na?vi and the humans are poor and because of this, the scientists that the government brought with them have genetically engineered the body of a Na?vi so that the humans can communicate with them. This is where Jake Sully comes into play. Jake Sully was born a twin, but when this twin dies a tragic death, the army recruites him onto the planet of Pandora where he is a perfect match for this genetically engineered Na?vi body. Jake uses this body to gain a connection with the Na?vi in hopes to persuade them to move off the area of the Unobtanium

Looking tough, sagging your pants, big muscles, baritone voices, and being homophobia do not characterized what masculinity is. Masculinity is biologically constructed and consists of traits such as aggressiveness, non-emotional, competitiveness, and tough skinned, strong, and hard. However, over the decades of our time, men that are queers (homosexual man) have now been identified as “queering masculinity”. Men such as; Ellyn Harris, best selling open gay author, Alvin Ailey, CEO and founder of the, American Dance Theatre in New York City, Langston Hughes, famous African American Poet, James Baldwin, civil rights activist and author of, “Go Tell it on the Mountain”, and the “Fashion Queen” himself, Mr. Andre Leon Talley, former editor and chief of Vogue magazine. These philanthropic men have all been influential in our societies and communities. Their pioneer abilities has transcended them as visionaries and are the voices through the lens of, “Queering Masculinity: Manhood and Black Gay Men in College”. Which is also known as “BGMUs”. This was a qualitative study that explored the lives and experiences of BGMUs’ and how they identified with masculinity and manhood affecting them socially and academically.

Male gender roles in contemporary media that are negatively portrayed through masculinity greatly effects the physical, psychological, and behavioral image of men. The social construct of masculinity in society and its relationship to males is generally reflected in male media consumption. The popular concept of women’s feminine image in the media is vastly overshadowed and more predominantly acceptable in subtle society in comparison to male’s image of masculinity.

...Tell me is it cool to fuck?” or Jay-Z’s hit song: 99 problems, “99 Problems but a bitch ain 't one. If you having girl problems. I feel bad for you son. I got 99 problems but a bitch ain 't one.Hit me.” Each song displays a different type of hatred and is sexually degrading towards women in their own way. However, many of these rappers face the pressures of their hierarchy, the corporations that produce this music, and find what its viewers are listening and responding to the most. The content of the messages in these rap lyrics has become more hardcore over the past years in order to make records sell, because that’s what consumers like, that’s what they want to hear. The negative depiction and hegemonic masculinity are what is making these records sell. Consumers play a key role in the process. Misogynistic representations of women and the more general marketing of “hood narratives”, occur in part, in response to a perceived consumer demand for stereotypical representations of the ghetto, and specifically of young Black men and women (Watkins 2001:389). Negative representation towards women isn’t only talked about in their songs, but shown in the popular music videos that played on stations aimed for kids of the younger generation, such as MTV. It is found that women in rap music videos were more likely then men to be associated with themes of misogyny. The prominence of misogyny as a theme may be related to viewers’ expression of similar attitudes towards their own

My study looks at how all my texts are connected by portrayals of masculinity and conformity. All of these texts have main characters who struggle with the demands of masculinity and the pressures to conform to society’s view of masculinity. The texts that I am using are Foreskins Lament by Greg McGee, The Godfather by Francis Ford Coppola, Kite Runner by and The Tomcat by James K Baxter. This interests me because I am a young man beginning my adult life and I feel a lot of pressure to conform to what society thinks is a good man.

Avatar shows how humans or the Americans set out to Pandora, to find, unobtanium, a valuable mineral that sells for a lot of money. In their quest to find the mineral, they have to face or fight against the indigenous people living on Pandora. Jake Sully an ex-marine, uses his avatar self, to live and learn the ways of the indigenous people in hopes of gaining their trust. However, after learning the ins and outs of the indigenous, Jake Sully becomes more attached and more protective of them and decides to help them instead of the humans. Ethnocentrism is also portrayed in the film.

In James Cameron’s films they all found a major success with the science diction action theme. Avatar is a perfect example of how the worlds blend perfectly for an acceptable amount of time. The real world, according to the Na’vi people of Pandora is visualized as a peaceful setting that can be compared to a church. In Avatar, there is a tree that symbolizes their perfect equilibrium. "Who's Eywa?

1. Avatars are creatures grown from human DNA mixed with the DNA of the natives from the Pandora planet. 2. Humans are colonizing Pandora because of the mineral Unobtanium. It pays 20 million a kilo.

According to “The Mask You live in”, society in the United States has created an “idea of masculinity” that does not give young males an opportunity to feel safe with their masculinity. Stated by Tony Porter, “from the beginning we are taught as boys to lock down our emotions”. Stated in the film the idea of being weak in the eyes of other boys emerges at a very young stage, in which we later must prove we are not weak to look good in society. Furthermore, in the film one of the participants explains that in school he would get bullied because society determines masculinity by being strong and being able to smoke a blunt and have sex with many women.

The film depicts a future where gender role differentiation is almost nonexistent. Personally, I would describe the key roles that women play in the film to be quite significant and empowering. The women in the film are portrayed as independent, strong-willed and fully capable of harnessing their potential as individuals. The film highlights how women are also capable of being strong leaders in many different circumstances — not just men. Dr. grace Augustine was a female and was in charge of the entire Avatar program. Additionally, many of the tribal leaders in Avatar were women. Also, Neytiri was a Na’Vi woman that was very strong and skilled in combat. Her mother, Moat, had the highest rank in the Omaticayan tribe due to the fact that she was able to act as a bridge between the Na’Vi and Eywa. In our world, almost all the deities are males, but in Pandora, Ewya was considered a female and was the most powerful entity — a goddess. This relates to Aboriginal Spirituality as women also tend to have prominent, leader like roles. Women traditionally play a central role within the Aboriginal family, and in spiritual ceremonies. Moreover, women are viewed as spiritual leaders and caretakers of life. Also, a lot of the Aboriginal spirits are personified and considered to be of female

“Masc for masc” (masculine looking for masculine) and “straight acting” (not being seen as a stereotype and being able to be excepted by heterosexual men) are terms used by Gay men to classify the type of man they are looking for in a partner; actively rejecting and devaluing femininity and upholding the hegemonic view of masculinity. Therefor I am researching the “how do gay and straight Latinos construct their masculinity?” Straight men deem anything feminine as less than, thus gay men are ousted. This ousting of gay men is a byproduct of heterosexism in which a men only date women and vice versa, thus gay men are seen as effeminate for the sole reason of dating other men. In an attempt to reclaim their lost masculinity gay men are rejecting effeminate men in an attempt to be seen as “one of the good gays”. The traits of reclaiming what gay Latinos feel is lost is strongly tied to femiphobia, internalized homophobia, and toxic masculinity. Gay men want to be seen as “normal” and “just one of the guys” at the cost of their fellow gay men’s humanity and manhood. They want to be seen as the “good gay” which I define as a gay man that wants to be removed from the stereotype and behaves and present as “straight” I want to investigate how gay Latinos specifically construct their masculinity and if they are contracting it based on their straight counterparts. It is important to distinguish how important masculinity is to Latin men specifically gay Latinos and see if a