Gender and Language

In "Performative Acts and Gender Constitution," Judith Butler states that gender imitative. Gender is not inherent but it is learned. According to Butler gender is a model that "requires a conception of a constituted social temporality" (901). Gender is constructed though repeated actions and it is impossible for the actions to always be identical. Therefore gender is not concrete or universally the same.

Using Dr. Elinor Ochs' study of language in Madagascar we can see that this is true. In the United States, most would observe that men are typically the gender to exhibit open anger and are more direct in their speech. While American Woman are less direct in their speech. Dr. Ochs observed in Madagascar the opposite of American norms. In Madagascar it is more widely observed and expected that a woman would exhibit open anger and use more direct language. While for the mean this would be out of character. Dr. Ochs' findings support Butler's assertions about gender.

Works Cited

Butler, Judith. "Performative Acts and Gender Constitution." Ed. Julie Rivkin and Michael Ryan. Literary Theory: an Anthology. Malden, MA: Blackwell Pub., 2004. 900-11. Print.

McClave, Evelyn. "Gender Variations in Language." California State University Northridge, Northridge. 27 Apr. 2010. Lecture.

The Panopticon in Gotham City

In "Discipline and Punish," Michel Foucault uses Jeremy Benthem's "Panopticon" to examine power and knowledge. The panoptic prison in a round structure that features a central tower. Placing a guard in this central position eliminates any blind spots. "The panoptic mechanism," Foucault says, "arranges spatial unities that make it possible to see constantly and to recognize immediately" (554). According to Foucault, this panopticon can also be observed in our society. Citizens have the knowledge that if they were to break a law, a law enforcer might see this and they would have to face serious consequences. Therefore knowledge (in this case the knowledge that someone is watching) in panoptic and maintains order.

We can see an example of this in Christopher Nolan's films "Batman Begins" and "The Dark Knight." In the first film Gotham city's criminals no longer observe the law simply because of the knowledge that the police might catch them. The law enforcement system has become corrupt and it takes a new law enforcer to frighten the criminals into changing their ways. In the following scene the Joker knows that it is the Batman that keeps them from going out at night. Because criminals have the knowledge that the Batman exists and is fighting crime, Batman power. He does not have to physically stop every crime, the mere knowledge of him will top certain crimes from taking place.

Works Cited

Foucault, Michel. "Discipline and Punish." Ed. Julie Rivkin and Michael Ryan. Literary Theory: an Anthology. Malden, MA: Blackwell Pub., 2004. 549-65. Print.

Marxism Presentation

I would definitely say that I was satisfied with our presentation. It went better than I expected. Not because we were not prepared, but because Marxism is a dense and difficult topic to cover.

I was covering portions of “Wage Labor and Capital.” Keeping in mind that the presentation should include involvement from the class, I decided to incorporate a multiple choice question and answer section. I tried to keep the questions simple, but still important. I wanted to make sure the class was able to confidently answer the questions after the difficult origami task, but I also wanted to make sure that they were retaining important information about Marxism. At the end of my section I also included a video clip from Howard Zinn’s play “Marx in Soho.” Unlike Marx’s writing the clip is concise and easy to understand and I thought it would add nicely to our presentation.

Salt of the Earth

Salt of the Earth is a 1954 film the depicts the struggles of Chicano miners and their families in Zinc Town, New Mexico. The film was black listed and banned in the United States because of its unfavorable portrayal of the capitalist system. Although it is a fictional film it does portray a struggle that is similar to those of real Chicano families in places like Silver City, New Mexico, where my family is from. In the film the miners are unhappy about being paid less compared to the Anglo workers and so they go on strike to ensure higher wages.

In the film, the miners are working to procure a commodity, which according to Karl Marx is " an object outside us, a thing that by its properties satisfies human wants of some sort or another" (665). And for their labor in the production of the commodity, they are being paid a wage. But the wages they are being paid is not sufficient. Marx says of the capitalist system that "the worker receives means of subsistence in exchange for his labor power, but the capitalist receives in exchange for his means of subsistence labor, the productive activity of the worker, the creative power whereby the worker not only replaces what he consumes but gives to the accumulated labor a greater value than it previously possessed" (663). The worker, and his labor, has the power to alter the value and production of a commodity, and so when he goes on strike it is the capitalist that is losing more.

Works Cited

Marx, Karl. "Capital." Ed. Julie Rivkin and Michael Ryan. Literary Theory: an Anthology. Malden, MA: Blackwell Pub., 2004. 665-71. Print.

Marx, Karl. "Wage Labor and Capital." Ed. Julie Rivkin and Michael Ryan. Literary Theory: an Anthology. Malden, MA: Blackwell Pub., 2004. 659-64. Print.