Notes

Discourse in media

Children stories shape what we view as the 'normal' way of living.

Entertainment like film and games reinforce our ideologies and discourses.

Little Mermaid (1989) - Disney Discourse of romance and gender

What are the gender stereotypes in Little Mermaid?

The main character, Ariel, is constructed baserd on gender norms relating to femininity and beauty. She is portrayed as the 'ideal' woman seen in society at the time it was made.

Ariel's father is big and strong, representing am 'ideal' male body type.

The world under the sea is a replica of our world on land. The norms of Othering are based on skin colour and rank.

Little Mermaid, along with many other Disney movies at the time, reinforced the values of American society at the time.

Race

Is race a social construct? The definition has changed many times throughout history to suit society's views and values.

Historically the term race has been used in idfferent ways to categorise humans based on etymology, skin colour and heritage.

It was often used to justify one 'race' being superior to another.

Modern society now sees race as more of a cultural background.

Ableism

The discourse of ableism bascially excludes anyone who is considered not "normal" in terms of physical and mental health from physical jobs. "Disability is an impairment of the body or mind caused by the loss or long-term non-functioning of a physical, sensory or mental part of system."

The binary of able vs disabled is made on the grand narrative of there being a perfect human being based on physical and mental ability.

Class Actvity: Choose some media and try to deconstruct it. Discuss your findings in groups.

Fate/Apocrypha features discourses of:

Good vs Evil

• One side wishes to give immortality to humanity and them forcing hypnosis on mankind to never commit evil, believing this would end sin and suffering.

• The other side is attempting to stop them, believing that immortalising then brainwashing humanity would strip it of what makes us human in the first place.

Class divide

• Rich and powerful rule over the poor and weak.

• A Mage Priest kidnaps and forces five commoner people to summon heroic servants for him which he takes control of and uses in the war.

• One of the factions fighting in the war is an esteemed mage family, creating a homunculi army to assist in their fight. This could represent slavery in a modern form. Instead of recruiting and training a soldier to follow orders, a homunculi is a preprogrammed being who will always obey your orders.

• Master and Servant relationships are a hierarchy where the Servant must obey the Master, even though the servant is usually the more powerful out of the two. Servants are like tools for Masters, who even have 3 command seals which give absolute control over a Servant when used, usually to control disobedient servants.

Gender norms

• Modred, the Knight of Treachery and "son" of King Arther. Both Modred and Arthur are actually females and disguise themselves as male to be viewed as powerful knights and leaders. Modred hates being referred to as a female, even threatening to cut her Master's head off if does it by accident again.

• Astolfo, the 12th Paladin of Charlemagne, is often mistaken to be a woman because of his extremely feminine appearance and personality. He became a notorius and well known meme character to the point where a google search for Asolfo will likely show the Fate depiction of the character instead of the original literary depictions.

Project 1 feedback from Miguel

What I've written is good and well thought out. I need to include the citiations to clarify where certain ideas or information came from. This helps avoid any accusations of plagarism.