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Disney's Moana is the prime example of the recent trend of replacing masculine imagery with the feminine in movies. Jonathan Pageau offers an interpretation of the symbolism in Moana, and how it plays out the gender ideology that is being inserted into popular culture through media and education

TerriChris

July 17, 2018

33 upvotes

/r/MensRights

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZT6Qo146Ncs&feature=youtu.be

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Title	Disney's Moana is the prime example of the recent trend of replacing masculine imagery with the feminine in movies. Jonathan Pageau offers an interpretation of the symbolism in Moana, and how it plays out the gender ideology that is being inserted into popular culture through media and education
Author	TerriChris
Upvotes	33
Comments	13
Date	July 17, 2018 9:57 PM UTC (8 years ago)
Subreddit	Posted in /r/MensRights
Original Link	https://old.reddit.com/r/MensRights/comments/8zpj7p/disneys_moana_is_the_prime_example_of_the_recent/
Archive Link	https://theredarchive.com/r/MensRights/disneys-moana-is-the-prime-example-of-the-recent.1186220 https://theredarchive.com/post/1186220

Comments

[–][deleted] 6 points7 points8 points 8 years ago (12 children) | Copy Link

[–]ThatNinaGAL -1 points0 points1 point 8 years ago (10 children) | Copy Link

[–][deleted] 11 points12 points13 points 8 years ago* (9 children) | Copy Link

Doctor Who has been a male role model for generations of women as well as men, an alternative to all the John Waynes and Sylvester Stallones of the world — you know, the “toxic masculinity” we keep hearing so much about these days. He used intelligence and humor to disarm his foes rather than brute strength. He made me feel like less of a freak for embracing nonviolence growing up in a violent culture.

This change sends the message that such functions are not particularly important anymore, in the scheme of things. It’s apparently very important all of a sudden that we have as many women as possible making men feel badly about themselves. That is somehow a good thing.

Edit: It is indeed a knife in the gut to be told that you and your kind are responsible for all the evils in the world, and that your punishment for this massive crime is that the world you know must be dismantled one piece at a time.

[–]Yoji_84 1 point2 points3 points 8 years ago (1 child) | Copy Link

[–][deleted] 1 point2 points3 points 8 years ago (0 children) | Copy Link

[+]MagicFartBag1 -6 points-5 points-4 points 8 years ago (6 children) | Copy Link

You really think that the new Doctor Who is going to be a character designed to make men feel bad about themselves? That’s like saying that the current Doctor Who was designed to make women feel bad about themselves. It’s just not true. Doctor Who has always been a progressive show, pushing progressive ideals and ideas of representation and tolerance. Maybe there are only so many stories that can be told in the dynamic of a male doctor with a female companion. Maybe the writers thought it would be an interesting character development to see what this character would do and how they would behave differently under this change, as they have done with other reincarnations in the past. There is an argument made a lot here that women should be able to see role models in male characters. If that’s true than it should also be true that men can see role models in female characters. In the case of DW this is a change that makes sense. It’s justified and gives them room to explore new perspectives and storylines that a whole audience can appreciate. You can try to make the argument all day that this does a disservice to women but I think the thousands of female fans who are excited for this change will beg to differ and may have a bit more insight into the matter. If you’re gonna stop watching the show because of this change, then I feel like you’ve missed what the show has been trying to say for the past 50 years.

[–][deleted] 2 points3 points4 points 8 years ago* (0 children) | Copy Link

[–]Yoji_84 2 points3 points4 points 8 years ago* (1 child) | Copy Link

[–]MagicFartBag1 -1 points0 points1 point 8 years ago (0 children) | Copy Link

Okay yeah I can see how that could be construed as me contradicting myself. I’ll try to better explain what I was trying to say.

The argument I was responding to, and the one that’s presented in the video, is that giving parts that were played by men normally to women is actually demeaning to women. I get this argument. Substituting men with women is a shitty way to increase female representation because you’re essentially shoehorning women into the masculinity that a lot of other characters embody. It’s counterintuitive.

The problem right now is that we’re a sort of transitionary period where studios are less likely to take the “risk” of having a female led project because there is a misconception it won’t do as well. So then we end up shoe horning women into masculine roles because having the associated brand makes the studio feel like they’re taking less of a risk.

However by the comment I replied to’s own argument. The Doctor has always been an example of someone who doesn’t ascribe to norms. They were never a particularly masculine character, at least in the stereotypical way. On top of that the Doctor has a canonical reason for undergoing major changes like this. It’s not as ideal but it’s a step in the right direction to having more representation. It’s those ideals of representation and equality that DW has always tried to promote, which it why it feels so ironic when the fans of the show get upset when those principles are brought into real life.

In actuality, it seems like very little will change about the show. That’s kinda the point of equality. If things do change it would hopefully be in the favor of telling new interesting stories that everyone can benefit from, men and women alike.

The reason that I cited that reason specifically is that the largely male portion of the audience is arguing that this is worse for women, which sounds an awful like they’re saying that they know what is better for women than women do. Doctor Who isn’t some safe space for men, it never has been. It’s supposed to be a show that promotes ideas of acceptance and equality and keeping and open mind. I just think there’s no harm in being optimistic about this :)

[–]ThatNinaGAL -3 points-2 points-1 points 8 years ago (2 children) | Copy Link

[–]Yoji_84 1 point2 points3 points 8 years ago (0 children) | Copy Link

[–]Agrees_withyou -3 points-2 points-1 points 8 years ago (0 children) | Copy Link

[–]Drekalo -2 points-1 points0 points 8 years ago* (0 children) | Copy Link