why stop there?

Why not see what happens past the next gender role?


Posted by on July 22nd, 2010 at 08:00 am

Category: video 8 comments »

8 Responses to “why stop there?”

  1. Sean
    July 22nd, 2010 at 6:40 pm |

    I don’t get it. Can anyone explain this? I thought it was fun though.

    [Reply]
  2. Cass
    July 22nd, 2010 at 7:03 pm |

    Well, it showed the symbol for “man” passing by three of what society would normally call men. They all wanted nothing to do with it. And so it found the little girl, whom accepted it and used it to fix her bike. And so began her journey into breaking down the walls of gender. :)

    [Reply]
  3. kendall
    July 23rd, 2010 at 12:09 am |

    oooooooooor its just more feminist propaganda saying a girl needs a man like a fish can fix a bicycle? Do it yourself and don’t rely on the patriachal paradigm? *snicker* be empowered, learn a trade, join a union, huzzzah…?

    No, I thought it was cute. I wonder what the writing said though, can anyone translate?

    [Reply]
  4. tigr
    July 23rd, 2010 at 3:56 am |

    //Director-Animator
    Olesya Shhukina//

    //For the festival
    “Okna M/Zh Rocta”//

    (“Windows of M/F growth” – see http://artsobes.ru/en/afisha_en.html)

    [Reply]
  5. AnnaHeger
    July 23rd, 2010 at 4:01 am |

    fixing a bicycle is equated with the male symbol.

    this seems pretty binary to me.
    it is not new, just inversed.

    [Reply]
  6. Jay
    July 23rd, 2010 at 6:39 am |

    Hunh! Cute video, different. I think I liked the man sleeping with his knitting best. xP

    [Reply]
  7. XylophoneGender
    July 23rd, 2010 at 9:21 am |

    @ Anna:
    The way I interpreted it, the male symbol is the child’s expectation of gendered behavior, how she expects to see the world (since it does originate as a gaze). Only after the child/the anthropomorphized expectation gives up on harassing others into conforming (I see the symbol turning into a wrench as relinquishing the expectation, not grasping at maleness, not converting maleness into femaleness) can things get rolling again.
    I would also argue that the imagery given doesn’t quite constitute a binary. I don’t think that bicycle fixing has been established as a Girl Job (the female symbol didn’t fix the bike, a wrench did) nor was it established as socially unacceptable for guys to take part. On the contrary, you have people who are mixing classic physical presentations of binary gender with activities that contrast binary expectation. E.g: The characters taking part in “soft” activities widely associated with femininity are not dressed in overtly “soft” ways. An inverted binary would require some sort of explanation that these particular “soft” activities had been widely accepted as “non-soft/hard” activities to match the “non-soft” dress.(I use quotes to stress that I don’t actually buy into the idea “soft” being intrinsic & obvious or soft = feminine)
    Plus, the child with the doll also has a truck :P

    [Reply]
  8. Anonymous
    July 29th, 2010 at 6:21 am |

    Plus, the middle-aged man was ironing, and the elder man slept with knitting :P

    [Reply]

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