New men and Superstar
Jan. 30th, 2006 03:20 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
beccaelizabetham reading that 'sex and the slayer' buffy gender studies book
chapter about 'new men'
Even Jonathan demonstrates this in 'Superstar' when he uses an 'augmentation' spell to construct a new-man superstar version of himself but unwittingly creates its antithesis, a monster that violently attacks innocent people (mainly women): the new man cannot exist without the old monster masculinity. All the new men are aware of how masculinity is constructed and therefore of how they differ from its traditional form.
Seems to me like the first sentence misses the point (which the second sentence hits).
Jonathan and his monster are kind of like Oz and the wolf, or Giles and Ripper, splitting up the good/acceptable stuff and the bad/unacceptable. With Jonathan its splitting it into a seperate monster. But *unlike* Oz or Giles he then *ignores* it. He refuses to take responsibility for it, refuses to confront or even acknowledge it. And that is part of what makes his 'constructed' new man identity *unreal*. He didn't create it by consistently performing that kind of masculinity, he created it by hiding the bad stuff and pretending it didn't exist. Returning to reality involved confronting *and destroying* that monster. *That* was what made Jonathan arguably heroic in that episode, not the earlier mucking about with vampires. He knew it would cost him personally to make 'old masculinity' monsters his problem, but he went for it anyway. And got saved by Buffy (new femininity).
Its that acknowledging and confronting, consciously trying to control, that makes the difference between unreal/fake new man and really trying to be new man.
Disowning it is what Pete the potion guy did, saying it was his girlfriend's fault. Make the monster not-you and it is out of your control. Which Oz found the hard way too, and Giles negotiates successfully (when not under influence of magic) using his 'Ripper' side as appropriate, knowing it for his own self.
would need to dig for better quoteage to back this up but I've got a lot of book to finish reading.
There's also the whole thing where dealing with things collaboratively is Good, but hiding problems from the group is Bad. See, Oz getting into trouble once he tries to cage the wolf alone rather than as part of the gang, or Giles in big trouble trying to treat the Eyghon thing as private.
But that part is pretty obvious.
chapter about 'new men'
Even Jonathan demonstrates this in 'Superstar' when he uses an 'augmentation' spell to construct a new-man superstar version of himself but unwittingly creates its antithesis, a monster that violently attacks innocent people (mainly women): the new man cannot exist without the old monster masculinity. All the new men are aware of how masculinity is constructed and therefore of how they differ from its traditional form.
Seems to me like the first sentence misses the point (which the second sentence hits).
Jonathan and his monster are kind of like Oz and the wolf, or Giles and Ripper, splitting up the good/acceptable stuff and the bad/unacceptable. With Jonathan its splitting it into a seperate monster. But *unlike* Oz or Giles he then *ignores* it. He refuses to take responsibility for it, refuses to confront or even acknowledge it. And that is part of what makes his 'constructed' new man identity *unreal*. He didn't create it by consistently performing that kind of masculinity, he created it by hiding the bad stuff and pretending it didn't exist. Returning to reality involved confronting *and destroying* that monster. *That* was what made Jonathan arguably heroic in that episode, not the earlier mucking about with vampires. He knew it would cost him personally to make 'old masculinity' monsters his problem, but he went for it anyway. And got saved by Buffy (new femininity).
Its that acknowledging and confronting, consciously trying to control, that makes the difference between unreal/fake new man and really trying to be new man.
Disowning it is what Pete the potion guy did, saying it was his girlfriend's fault. Make the monster not-you and it is out of your control. Which Oz found the hard way too, and Giles negotiates successfully (when not under influence of magic) using his 'Ripper' side as appropriate, knowing it for his own self.
would need to dig for better quoteage to back this up but I've got a lot of book to finish reading.
There's also the whole thing where dealing with things collaboratively is Good, but hiding problems from the group is Bad. See, Oz getting into trouble once he tries to cage the wolf alone rather than as part of the gang, or Giles in big trouble trying to treat the Eyghon thing as private.
But that part is pretty obvious.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2006-01-30 03:29 pm (UTC)Julia, majorly impressed
no subject
Date: 2006-02-03 04:13 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-01-30 03:35 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-02-03 04:13 pm (UTC)