Monday, October 1, 2012

The Male Body Beautiful and Storytelling

Beauty (Re)Discovers the Male Body by Susan Bordo
http://wendtenglish201f10.wikispaces.com/file/view/Wendt.Beauty+(Re)discovers+the+Male+Body1.pdf


     As I started to read Susan Bordo's article, I immediately thought of the classical Greek art that showcased the male body, either in the nude or semi-nude.  It appears as the centuries passed, and as noted in the article around the 14th century, that a specific style of dress emerged concerning and reflecting the roles of men and women.  In the royal courts both sexes dress to impress, and compete, albeit as much as their wealth can sustain such extravagance.  Afterwards, as the middle class gained prominence, the style of dress adhered to the social norms of a given time period.  Men were the breadwinner, and as such their style exuded a quite power, of a man who can get things done, he just happens to look good even he considered function over form.  From the stock broker in his press suits, to the construction worker in his overalls and hard hat, a sense of "get 'er done" is felt in the style of dress.  If that was what one needed for the job at hand, so be it and he wore it.  The article then goes on to detail the liberation of the male body as a subject to be look at and admired; what is under the clothes mattered as much, if not more so, than what covered it.  Clothes do not make the man (but considering the ads, some articles of clothing do make the man sexy).  I found it interesting when Bordo discusses the gender biases inherent when scrutinizing a scantily clad form, be it male or female.  The female is expected to vain, and consider form or function.  The woman seen preening, looking in the mirror, and, whether conscious of the fact or not, is expecting to be looked at.  So the woman goes to great pains to be good looking, or a "looker".  She may not like or condone such a label, but she knows how to use the tools she is given to make her way in the world.  Now we come to the (re)discovering of the male body.  I do feel it is a rediscovering, while, judging from the reactions of a few critics in the article, it may have seemed at the time something foreign and taboo.  Society's belief about the male form, at that time, could be attributed a number of reasons: the social norm, the idea of the male as a stoic, the role of the male to be active, or as noted in the article, to act.  The male form was to be acknowledged, but not ogled.  Making what was old new again, the underwear ads displaying a semi-nude (or sometimes nude) brought sexuality to the otherwise believed not-so-fair sex, revealing that the male form can be both strong and sensual, both passive and participant, and both rousing as well as arousing.
 
“No Redeeming Value” by Extra Credits http://penny-arcade.com/patv/episode/no-redeeming-value
I, for one, have never played the God of War series, but the breakdown of the storytelling can be understood by those uninitiated.  From what I got from the video, the first God of War was a critical success both story wise as well as play wise.  Maybe it was not, at first, considered a trilogy, so the game designer and writers perhaps put more into the story to give it a tragic end (where Kratos throws himself in the sea after his labors are completed).  This is seen a lot in films.  I like the reference to the Star Wars films.  The original, episodes 2, 3, 4 started that way because the backstory drew the viewer in: who is this Darth Vader? what is the Force?  When episodes 1, 2, 3 were released, the viewer was subjected to the knowledge the Vader is Luke's father, as well as midi-chlorians as the reason for the Force.  Sometimes telling too much is worse than telling enough.  Now, if the episodes are watched in order, gone is the shocking revelation of Luke's true parentage, gone is the mystical nature of the force and is its place a paramecium.  There are numerous sequels where the protagonist,  as we are reintroduced to him in the sequel, is far removed from the success in the end of the prior movie.  I am reminded of the Die Hard series, where McClane and his wife have reconciled their differences at the end of the first movie.  Then, sequel after sequel, McClane is separated from his wife to finally divorced with a daughter that despises him.  The writers, thinking that viewers won't feel sympathy or empathy towards the character, gave McClane more faults and woes to outdo the previous faults and woes.  Many may not have noticed this, but I did.  And I thought, "What the hell?"  How can so many things happen to one person, and how can he get to rock bottom each time after saving the day?
The fascination with Lara Croft stems from the fact the she is a female in an otherwise predominately (at the time) male role, catering to mostly male video game players.  Here is a female lead character, whose short shorts were higher than the bottoms of the holsters of her gun, blasting and killing while looking sexy at the same time.  Of course, her anatomy was exaggerated, what with the pixilated bullet bra and wasp-like waist.  And she couldn't be weighed-down with even the slightest of body armor, not if it would get in the way of sex appeal.  I played the first Tomb Raider, which was my first 3-D game that I remembered playing.  Although it was fun staring at Lara's butt as I explored the landscape and ruins, after awhile it grew tiresome and I just wanted to raid some tombs.

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