I Wrote This!

Sorry, Groot.  Your scene was too short.

Yeah, I'm almost finished revising my film analysis, and I didn't post on any of the prompts that would explain what I did in prewriting and drafting and why I did it and what problems I had.  Now it seems pointless to go back and respond to the prompts, so I'm going to summarize it all.
As I mentioned before, I was interested in father-son relationships in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2.  That meant that my critical approach was men's studies, but the page on that in the packet we were given didn't really get into this kind of a relationship.  I talked to the prof, and she said to look at the first thing on the sheet, which was "What does this film say a man can or should be?"  Armed with that, I watched the scene I had chosen to ask that question.  
I immediately realized that I needed a new scene.
to be continued 

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note:  All the father and son articles Zemanta listed were about death!  Not what I was looking for.

One from column A, one from column B

We got our new assignment, along with a 7-page handout we will need for it.  This project is a "critical analysis," which apparently means that we need a critical approach (not quite clear on this yet) to analyze a scene from a film.  So I have to decide on a film and an approach, and it looks kind of tricky.  The films are listed in six approach categories, Myth Criticism, Women's Studies, Men's Studies, Disability Studies, Shame Theory, and Genre Criticism.  I'm not sure yet, but I think I want to try Men's Studies.  I've seen most of the films listed, so I've got plenty of choice.  The one problem I see is that I need to make up my mind asap, or I'll be wasting time I might need.  Right now, I'm leaning toward Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, because 1. the plot is partly about a father-son relationship (one of the things Men's Studies is interested in), although I may not stick with that aspect of the film; and 2. I already bought the DVD and have watched it several times. 
I wanted the DVD because it's a movie that I know I'll want to watch every so often, if only to see Baby Groot's dance in the first fight scene to get a cute fix.  
That's all for now.

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I've Got a Thesis!

Regions of the brain affected by PTSD and stress. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Yes!  I'm still playing around with exactly how to word it-- probably will be doing that right up until I turn it in-- but the idea is pretty clear to me, and I can see the development of the pattern in the films from Iron Man right through to Avengers:  Age of Ultron.  I was having trouble narrowing it down for the longest time.  It basically has to do with what happens when one person (Iron Man) is not adhering to the same code as the rest of the unit.  The actions he takes set him apart from the rest of the team, cause the threat he was trying to prevent, and create resentment.  Of course, there are other factors as well:  it's evident from the character's appearance in other films that he is having significant difficulties that constitute an almost textbook case of post-traumatic stress disorder, for one thing.  For another, his self-image is not that of a warrior; he isn't part of the culture.  He has a line in the first Avengers film, "we are not soldiers," that bears that out.  He's a loner in many ways and is used to working on his own, with his own rules and no oversight. 
The irony here is that the most important long-term benefit of a warrior code is that it helps prevent the worst effects of PTSD--if he would accept the same values that the others do, he would be able to find support in being part of the group and probably suffer a lot less.

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Waiting is the Hardest Part

The "Heroic Age" roster of the Avengers. Cover art for Avengers vol. 4, #12.1, by Bryan Hitch. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I turned my research proposal in on Wednesday, so I figure I'll get it back on this coming Wednesday.  Tomorrow (Monday) seems too soon, based on last semester's assignments in all my classes.  I'm really hoping she okays it.  I'm sticking with Avengers:  Age of Ultron and a men's studies approach, but I narrowed it down to the code of the team.  My initial research question is:  Do the Avengers all keep to the same code?

The reason I'm asking this is that it seems to me that they don't, and they probably should for the good of the group.  This brings me to the fact that I am worried that I am partly drawn to that conclusion because I have a pretty good idea what the filmmakers are planning for the future films, thanks to my older brothers, Paul and Brian.  I'll get to that in my next post.

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Men's Studies and Avengers: Age of Ultron

Captain America and The Avengers
 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Today's lecture was on men's studies, and I've decided to use that for my approach to Avengers:  Age of Ultron.  What interested me most was behavior codes, specifically warrior codes.  Watching the film again had me noticing all sorts of things I didn't think about when I first saw it.  For example, it's kinda obvious that they've all been working together a lot, since they have developed team moves, like Thor hitting Captain America's shield with his hammer and knocking out a large group of soldiers at one time with the shock wave.  What struck me the most, however, was when Captain America talked about losing "together" if it was necessary.  The basic cause of the action is Stark wanting to work alone or just with Banner and wanting not to even discuss his plans with the rest of the team.  Is this just because he's so used to getting his own way he can't stand to be thwarted?  Or is it that he isn't sure that he wants to be part of the team when they're not actually fighting?  Either way, the code of the group seems to involve being a group and being open with the group about things involving the group.
I've got a lot of thinking to do, and a proposal draft due on Wednesday, so I'd better get to it. 

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The Anger Games

Angry Talk (Comic Style) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)We're back from spring break this week, and I've turned in my annotated bibliography, but there's something funny about that:  I'm not going to be able to use too many of the sources I listed.  I have to change my focus.  There just wasn't enough material on the fathering angle, at least not the things I wanted to talk about.  And then it hit me that there is something else interesting going on, which is how each of the men in the film deal with anger. 
For one thing, anger seems to be Dolarhyde's default setting -- it's like he's permanently pissed off.  Lonergan is a good contrast to him:  he only rarely gets angry, and he doesn't automatically react to new threats with anger; he's more interested in dealing with the problem.  Doc gets angry out of frustration, mainly because he has no power to change anything, given the situation.  Nat, despite his attachment to Dolarhyde, doesn't use him as a role model.  He's actually more like Lonergan.
So.  I spent spring break doing fresh research, and I came up with some good articles.  I'm going to mix the material on anger with the basic men's studies material, and I'm pretty sure it's going to work this time.  It better-- the draft is due in a couple of weeks.   

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What I found

Image via WikipediaI mentioned last time that I have learned a lot about men's studies, but I didn't get into the actual sources.  I'm almost finished with my annotated bibliography, and here are a few of the more interesting sources.
Brod, Harry, ed.  The Making of Masculinities:  The New Men's Studies.  Boston:  Allyn and Unwin, 1987.  Like many of the books I found, this one is not terribly recent, but it was very helpful in understanding the way men's studies developed and its connections to other gender-based theories.  (It's a collection of articles, so I got several entries for my bib.  Yay!)
Cohan, Steven and Ina Rae Hark.  Screening the Male : Exploring Masculinities in Hollywood Cinema.  New York : Routledge, 1993.  This is interesting, especially with the ongoing changes in how American culture shifts with regard to how it defines masculinity and concepts related to masculinity.
Lehman, Peter.  Masculinity:  Bodies, Movies, Culture.  New York:
Routledge, 2001.  It's amazing to me how many scholarly books there are about men and film.  This one has some different ideas than the two above, and it really helped me get at how to write about film using this critical approach.
Powrie, Phil and Ann Davies.  The Trouble with Men: Masculinities in European and Hollywood Cinema.  London: Wallflower Press, 2004.  Not finished looking at this one yet, but I have great hopes--the Bond films are not actually Hollywood films, so I need material on that.
 

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My proposal-- What's the big deal with James Bond, anyway?

Image via WikipediaI'm having some trouble narrowing down my research question for the proposal (luckily, Dr. Toffee changed the due date to Wednesday).  I had a draft ready last Wednesday, but I'm not happy with it.  Also, I've been reading some of the material I've found on men's studies, and that's given me a lot to think about, too.  The question I put in the title of this post is actually pretty close to what I'm looking for:  I want to know what men -- and boys, for that matter -- get out of James Bond films.  I mean, there are plenty of movies with similar characters and plots, but the Bond films seem to touch something in men that the others don't.  I'll keep working on this today; I've got to come up with something soon.

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