Browsing by Subject "masculinity"
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Item Between Mars and Venus: balance and excess in the chivalry of the late-medieval English romance(Texas A&M University, 2006-08-16) Mitchell-Smith, IlanThis dissertation is a study of how late-medieval romances construe ideal chivalric masculinity, and how aristocratic male violence was integrated into a beneficial model for masculine behavior. The focus is on the "fair unknown" romances of the late fourteenth and early fifteenth centuries, and the final chapter reads Chaucer's "Knight's Tale" as thematically related to the "fair unknown" tradition in its treatment of chivalry and violence. By contrasting the masculine ideal of the romance with that of the chivalric epic, this study approaches chivalry in terms of multiple and competing models, and finds that, unlike the epic, the ideal of the romance was informed by the growing popularization of university-based philosophy and cosmology. Between Mars and Venus argues that the most significant point of departure that the chivalric romance makes from the epic is its characterization of chivalric masculinity as a moderated avoidance of extreme behavior. Animalistic and monstrous references to knightly violence in the romance often result from episodes in which the knight has been overly amorous or courtly. By identifying both extremely amorous and extremelyaggressive behavior in terms of oppositional poles on a spectrum of excess, this study reads ideal masculinity as the mediated balance between the two extremes. The connection between the production of romances and the philosophy of the universities offers an explanation of chivalric masculinity in terms of Aristotelian virtue - as a mean between excess and deficiency of prowess. This reading of chivalric violence avoids the anachronistic assumptions of stereotypical male aggression that many critics rely on. By avoiding these assumptions, this dissertation offers a reworking of the feminine/masculine binary into a paradigm of competing masculinities, which is more attuned to the intellectual and philosophical contexts of late-medieval literary production.Item Exploring Representations of Masculinity in Disney Animated Feature Films(2010-01-14) Hibbeler, Britney L.The purpose of this research project was to examine representations of male characters and masculinity in Disney animated feature films. Social learning theory, gender and hegemonic masculinity were used to theoretically frame this study. Twenty-two movies were examined; a total of ninety-one characters were included in the analysis. The movies included in the sample were produced between 1930 and 2007. This study sought to examine the dimensions of character descriptions, physical descriptions, socioeconomic status, sexuality, family structures and practices, and aggression as well as to understand how constructions of masculinity in Disney films changed over time. The results of the present study regarding character role indicate that good characters were most often middle aged, slender and fit but not muscular, single, royalty, and had community as family. They were most often heterosexual, equally likely to be romantically involved as to be not romantically involved, were sexual in nature, and were most often the victims of physical aggression. Evil characters were most often middle aged, slender and fit but not muscular, single, royalty, had community as family, and were well dressed. Evil characters were most likely to trap other characters and to steal. Neutral characters were most often old/elderly, overweight and not muscular, and were most often employed as inventors, royalty, and diamond miners. They were also most often single and to have community as family. The results regarding character centrality indicated that central characters were most often white, slender and fit but not muscular, single, middle aged, showed physical strength, and were well dressed compared to peripheral characters. Central characters were heterosexual, romantically involved, sexual in nature, engaged in hand to hand fighting, and engaged in social isolation and name calling. Peripheral characters were most often white, slender and fit but not muscular, single, and also more likely than central characters to be old/elderly. For the analysis of masculinity across time, it was found that the types of masculinity shown in Disney films did not match with hegemonic masculinity historically. Overall, the most common theme of masculinity that was observed throughout all decades was the fatherhood movement.Item From Transcendental Subjective Vision to Political Idealism: Panoramas in Antebellum American Literature(2012-10-19) Park, JoonThis dissertation explores the importance of the panorama for American Renaissance writers' participation in ideological formations in the antebellum period. I analyze how Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, Nathaniel Hawthorne, William Wells Brown, Henry Box Brown, and Harriet Beecher Stowe use the panorama as a metaphorical site to contest their different positions on epistemological and sociopolitical agendas such as transcendentalism, masculinist expansionism, and radical abolitionism. Emerson uses the panorama as a key metaphor to underpin his transcendental idealism and situate it in contemporary debates on vision, gender, and race. Connecting the panorama with optical theories on light and color, Emerson appropriates them to theorize his transcendental optics and makes a hierarchical distinction between light/transparency/panorama as metaphors for spirit, masculinity, and race-neutral man versus color/opacity/myopic vision for body, femininity, and racial-colored skin. In his paean to the moving panorama, Thoreau expresses his desire for Emersonian correspondence between nature and the spirit through transcendental panoramic vision. However, Thoreau's esteem for nature's materiality causes his panoramic vision to be corporeal and empirical in its deviation from the decorporealized vision in Emerson?s notion of transparent eyeball. Hawthorne repudiates the Transcendentalists' and social reformers' totalizing and absolutist idealism through his critique of the panorama and the emphasis on opacity and ambiguity of the human mind and vision. Hawthorne reveals how the panorama satisfies the desire for visual and physical control over the rapidly expanding world and the fantasy of access to truth. Countering the dominant convention of the Mississippi panorama that objectifies slaves as a spectacle for romantic tourism, Box Brown and Wells Brown open up a new American subgenre of the moving panorama, the anti-slavery panorama. They reconstruct black masculinity by verbally and visually representing real-life stories of some male fugitive slaves and idealizing them as masculine heroes of the anti-slavery movement. In Uncle Tom's Cabin, Stowe criticizes how the favorable representation of slavery and the objectification of slaves in the Mississippi panorama and the picturesque help to construct her northern readers' uncompassionate and hard-hearted attitudes toward the cruel realities of slavery and presents Tom's sympathetic and humanized "eyes" as an alternative vision.Item Imagining TR: Commemorations and Representations of Theodore Roosevelt in Twentieth-Century America(2014-11-03) Heth, Jennifer DawnBy examining monuments and memorials dedicated to Theodore Roosevelt in the twentieth century, this dissertation exposes the commemorators? conscious and unconscious perceptions of masculinity and American identity visible in commemorative statuary. The monuments? patrons and artists adapted the nation?s collective memory of Roosevelt to suit spatial and temporal variables, including their proposed messages, the monuments? geographic and situational locations, along with their intended audiences. This dissertation illustrates how commemorators employed specific incarnations of Roosevelt?s multifaceted personality, from Rough Rider to hunter-explorer to statesman, to produce permanent, prominent, and didactic symbols through which to broadcast their values and ideals to both their contemporaries and future generations of Americans. These monuments are not mere reflections of the eras that produced them, however; they serve as portals into contemporary Americans? sense of self and their understanding of national themes and politics. These visual elements produce evidence not found in textual representations. Over five chapters, this dissertation explores examples of commemorators? efforts to select a representation of Roosevelt and reveals their use of his image as an example of rugged, vigorous masculinity as well as the embodiment of Americanism. The monuments in this dissertation represent a broad geographical area, from Portland, Oregon, on the west coast to Washington, D.C., and New York City on the east coast, with Minot, North Dakota, and Keystone, South Dakota, centrally located in between. The time frame stretches from immediately following Roosevelt?s death in January 1919 through the dedication of the national memorial on Theodore Roosevelt Island in 1967, with most of the commemorative efforts originating in the mid-1920s. Despite the changing historical contexts of the monuments? dedications, these structures illustrate Roosevelt?s continued relevance and the transposibility of his image across decades and geographic spaces. Finally, although the intended audiences may have been local, regional, or national, these monuments all express issues of national significance. Sources examined include newspaper commentary of proposed and constructed monuments; artists? and architects? personal papers, correspondence, and drawings, along with photographs of design models; as well as the materials of the monuments? patrons, particularly personal and government reports, correspondence, and public statements.Item Imperial Standard-Bearers: Nineteenth-Century Army Officers' Wives in British India and the American West(2012-07-16) McInnis, VerityThe comparative experiences of the nineteenth-century British and American Army officer's wives add a central dimension to studies of empire. Sharing their husbands' sense of duty and mission, these women transferred, adopted, and adapted national values and customs, to fashion a new imperial sociability, influencing the course of empire by cutting across and restructuring gender, class, and racial borders. Stationed at isolated stations in British India and the American West, many officers' wives experienced homesickness and disorientation. They reimagined military architecture and connected into the military esprit de corps, to sketch a blueprint of female identity and purpose. On the physical journeys to join their husbands, and post arrival, the feminization of formal and informal military practices produced a new social reality and facilitated the development of an empowered sisterhood that sustained imperialist ambitions. This appropriation of symbols, processes, and rankings facilitated roles as social functionaries and ceremonial performers. Additionally, in utilizing dress, and home decor, military spouses drafted and projected an imperial identity that reflected, yet transformed upper and middle-class gender models. An examination of the social processes of calling and domestic rituals confirms the formation of a distinct and influential imperial female identity. The duty of protecting the social gateway to the imperial community, rested with a hostess?s ability to discriminate ? and convincingly reject parvenus. In focusing on the domestic site it becomes clear that the mistress-servant relationship both formulated and reproduced imperial ideologies. Within the home, the most intimate of inter-racial, inter-ethnic, and inter-class contact zones, the physiological trait of a white skin, and the exhibition of national artifacts signaled identity, status, and authority. Military spouses, then, generated social power as arbiters, promoters, and police officers of an imperial class, reaffirming internal confidence within the Anglo communities, and legitimizing external representations of the power and prestige of empire.Item Masculine Ideology and College Men's Reactions to a Sexual Assault Prevention Program(2012-10-19) Caver, KellySexual assault in the United States continues to be a major societal problem which often results in serious long-term consequences for the survivors, with perpetrators most commonly being men. Sexual assault prevention programs for college men often lack theories to guide the research and demonstrate mixed results. Previous research has demonstrated that more traditional male gender role identity is linked to sexual assault supportive attitudes and behaviors, suggesting that masculine ideology could be a contributing factor to college men?s reactions to a sexual assault prevention program. The purpose of this study was to test a model of how male gender role identity constructs influence college men?s reactions to a sexual assault prevention program through the Elaboration Likelihood Model. Participants were 97 college men, ages 18 to 22. They completed measures of adherence to masculine ideologies, then participated in an hour long sexual assault prevention program focused on bystander prevention, and finally completed measures of central route processing and outcome variables. Structural equation modeling was used to test a model of how masculine ideologies and central route processing contributed to outcome results. These results indicated that men who adhered to more traditional masculine ideologies were less likely to engage in central route processing, a thoughtful processing of the information provided in the prevention program. Additionally, less adherence to traditional masculinity predicted more behavioral intentions to change as a result of the program and less acceptance of rape myths. More engagement in central route processing also predicted more positive outcomes such as behavioral intentions to change and less rape myth acceptance. Results from hierarchical linear regression analysis indicated that central route processing was more influential on the outcome variables than masculine ideology. Implications for this research include support of sexual assault prevention programs based on the Elaboration Likelihood Model as being potentially effective regardless of the men?s existing masculine ideologies.Item National family allegory: Irish men and post-independence novels and film(2009-05-15) Trayers, Shane NicoleThis dissertation explores the ideological functions of the National Family Allegory in post-Independence novels and film created by male authors and film directors. Ideology functions as a lingering force in service of the status quo, the current power structure, and these works recreate the same family structures as those established during colonization and through national myth. The roles of Mother Ireland, savior sons, and failing fathers repeat, sometimes through creative means. Although the texts attempt to subvert the allegory, many post-Independence works eventually show the traditional and conservative family structure of the National Family Allegory. The first chapter, ?Importantly Motherless: Spontaneous Child Creation and Male Maternity,? analyzes the connection between the missing Mother figure and male fantasies of pregnancy and child creation. Because of the lack of stable family structure, usually connected to early childhood abandonment or mistreatment, the novels discussed in this chapter show the absolute necessity of family in creating a personal and national identity. In the second chapter, ??You Can?t Protect Your Women??: Male Irish Terrorists as Protector in Popular American and Irish Films, 1984-1998,? the young man/son protagonist in his role as protector of the woman/Mother figure is analyzed in six different films. In the third chapter, ?Articulation and Stasis: The Son as Haunted Echo of the Father in McCann?s Songdogs,? discusses the father and son dynamic in relation to the missing mother in this diasporic novel to indicate that the Irish National Family Allegory holds true even during the dispersion of post-Famine Irish identity. The last chapter, ?Failing Fathers,? examines the father figure in Roddy Doyle?s A Star Called Henry, Patrick McCabe?s The Butcher Boy, and John McGahern?s Amongst Women. A father?s traditional role is to function in the public sphere and also to control the family, yet each of these father?s fail in their roles, which is typical of the National Family Allegory role established within the literature.Item The Family of God: Universalism and Domesticity in Alice Cary's Fiction(2012-02-14) Galliher, Jane M.Until recently Alice Cary's works have gone largely unnoticed by the literary community, and those critics who have examined her writings have recognized her primarily as a regionalist sketch writer. However, studying Cary's total body of fiction, including her novels and children's fiction as well as her sketches, and examining the influence of Christian Universalism upon her work reveals that Cary is a much more complex and nuanced writer than she has been previously understood to be. This dissertation explores the way that Cary questions stereotypes of accepted behavior specifically as they pertain to the identities of men, women, and children and offers a more flexible and inclusive religious identity rooted in Universalist ideals. In her depictions of women, Cary uses tropes from gothic stories, fairy tales, and sentimental fiction to criticize evangelical faith, Transcendentalism, and separate spheres-based stereotypes of women's behavior, and she undermines these stereotypes and replaces them with a Universalist emphasis on communal service and identity. Similarly, Cary's depictions of manhood are influenced by her desire to dissect preconceived notions of masculinity like that of the Self-Made Man and his earlier counterparts the Genteel Patriarch and the Heroic Artisan and replace these stereotypes with a Universalist model that embraces gender fluidity and sacrifice of self interest for the larger community. Cary's treatment of children continues her critique of nineteenth century stereotypes. Cary, unlike most early nineteenth century writers, exposes the dangers of romanticized visions of middle class children, which physically isolated children from their families and endangered working class children by increasing the demand for child labor; thus Cary's Universalism leads her to depict all children, not just the wealthy ones, as God's children and worthy of protection. Cary also uses children metaphorically to represent minorities and tentatively question the treatment of African Americans and Native Americans. Cary stands as a prime example of an author who has been overlooked and whose obscurity has hindered the construction of literary history, particularly in regard to the antebellum roots of realism and the influence of liberal religious belief on realistic fiction.