Ay Yay Yay!

     It doesn’t take a yiddisher kop to understand that language is connected to our culture and evolves alongside it. Nishme’r, languages that have been around for centuries are dismissed as mishegoss just because they’re primarily spoken and not often used in literary works. Maven are so quick to dismiss these languages as bubke that they fail to appreciate the beauty of an adaptive oral language like Yiddish. Many of my mishpocha use this language to shmooze with each other casually, but feel like schmos when talking to shiksas and shegetzes this way. Firstly, goyishers often use  parts of our language callously without realizing and appreciating the rich cultural origin of the words. It is cultural appropriation, nu? Oy, how can some words of a goyish language be adopted and basically re-dubbed “English” words but the rest of the language is not? Feh!  Standard goyisher english is really a combined oral language when you look at it, so why do goyim kvetch and plotz about other combined languages? Those who praise standard English yet denounce Yiddish and Black English and Chicano Spanish nach a mool are shmendriks and cause tsuris for those without standard English for their natural language. I kvell my haimish language although many kibitzers huck me about it. Fershtay? Those who speak yiddish mixed with a goyisher language should not be made to feel like they are hok a chaink.

   I found this assignment incredibly challenging. Writing about the philosophy of language in a mixture of yiddish and english was nearly impposible for me- not because the yiddish language itself is incappable of expressing the ideas, but because the extent of my knowledge of the language is not sufficient. Yiddish is a sarcastic and satirical language, used primarily by myself and my family as an impetus for humor and exagerration. I connect with my history through this language but like my ancestors, this language has always been one used mostly privately among family and friends that share Jewish culture. I think that in Europe this language has much more autonomy, but in the US much of the language has been unknowingly adapted into standard English and is therefore often overlooked as its own language. This makes me both happy and sad, as I know that I will always be able to express a part of my cultural heritage in Standard English- but most of it will go unappreciated. The pious attitudes scholars of standard english have towards other languages combining with standard English seem silly when I realize just how much our language is comprised of other languages. Although it was challenging, I really enjoyed writing this paragraph  because I was able to use some of my favourite words and expressions- ones that make me feel at home and smile (not to be cheezy or anything.) The Yiddish language expresses things with degrees of sarcasm and meaning that cannot be done through standard English. I would recommend you have a few good Yiddish insults in your pocket!

My Flawless Advertisement Analysis

An initial glance at this ad would yield little deep thought. A flawless looking Halle Berry smiles softly at the reader next to a bottle of Revlon ColorStay Mineral Mousse Makeup in exactly her shade. While flipping through a magazine, I probably would have glanced quickly at this ad and then continued on my way- I have never been self conscious about the colour consistency of my skin and I tend not to use foundation or cream makeup. However, most young girls, the target audience of the Teen Vogue magazine I found this ad in, are searching for ways to look “flawless” like the superstar Halle Berry. And many girls with predictably blotchy pubescent skin- would be attracted to this ad, believing that their faces and supposed to look the same way as a photoshopped actress in her 30s. Looking at this ad through the lens of a girl on the cusp of teenagerdom-which I was in 2009, when I bought this magazine- I would immediately notice several things. Firstly, I would see the slogan in black right under Halle Berry’s flawless chin; “Still looking for your perfect matte?” While matte is, of course, a type of face makeup, the sentence is perfectly structured to encourage a double meaning. “Matte” is so easily read as “Mate;” as in romantic partner. The ad purposefully equates the achievement of beauty to the winning of love, two things which media culture and gender culture place as the woman’s top priority in life.  On the preceding page, their is another Revlon ad with Halle Berry- this time advertising lipstick- the ad has a similar style; with the slogan “Feel the love” underneath Halle Berry’s perfectly pink lips. This ad campaign has made its theme clear. A girl looking at these ads would believe that Revlon makeup is not only the answer to their quest for “flawless” skin- but that the use of makeup to cover their imperfections is the only way they can get the love they have been so desperately seeking. 

To any vulnerable, pubescent, self conscious girl- this is the dream. All I have to do is buy this makeup, and I’ll “ get a flawless matte finish with minerals in a refreshingly light air-whipped mousse?” And as a bonus, with my skin sculpted to photoshopped actress perfection, I will finally find my perfect mate and get all the love I deserve? Perfect! Screw middle school drama- I now know that they key to getting a boyfriend only costs a few dollars....it’s makeup! The language of the ad just bolsters my confidence in the product. I am worried that although I need makeup to look pretty and get a boyfriend, I also don’t want to look desperate and over the top- I don’t want anyone to know about my secret trickery, Don’t worry! -says the ad. The medium sized text above the product clarifies that the makeup is “For a soft, seamless matte look. Minus the mess.” Not only will I fool everyone with my flawlessness, I will also look like I achieved it effortlessly, without “messy” makeup smudges and “seamless” application. The secrecy of the event is thrilling. However, I am also concerned that my carefully crafted facade will come crumbling down after only a little while- revealing my deceit! The ad ensures this wont happen, with an official looking bullet point on the bottom corner of the advertisement claiming “16-hour ColorStay Longwear for lasting perfection.”

This ad is quietly destructive. It trains young girls to look for love with makeup, and makes them believe that perfection and flawlessness are their ultimate goals. As a 13 year old girl just starting to recognize the pressure to be pretty, I would have felt desperate to look like Halle does- I wouldn’t ever be able to accept my “flawed” face.

Final Reflection, Are We Hopeless?

   During my time observing the culture of Fairfield county, I observed many interesting, humorous, and oftentimes aggravating things. While many of the observations I recorded were related in someway to a negative aspect of our culture, it is important to not that I saw (and continue to see) beautiful things in our society. Especially in our liberal corner of the world, I find that Fairfield county in particular is much more accepting (on a whole) of the LGBT community, although there is still much progress to be made. Compared to many other places I visited and stayed, I feel very lucky to live in such a place.  However, I must point out the imperfections, and not allow my appreciation of my area to cloud my observations about its setbacks. I focused initially on racial and “ethnic” culture issues, and I found that the citizens of Fairfield county are mostly blissfully unaware of many cultures and lifestyles. However, instead of viewing this as a reflection on the quality of the people themselves, I realized that this continued ignorance was not embraced consciously but slowly trained into them through the mass media and advertising culture. 

       Seeing my friends spout stereotypes at a new years party was certainly not comforting, but I understood that the movies and television roles for minorities that they had grown up with were breeding their ignorance. My father too, proved to me that even someone who makes an effort to be culturally aware can be brainwashed by our culture to believe in lies. If hummus is included on every Greek restaurant’s menu, and yogurt is advertised as “Greek” even though it’s made in upstate New York, how can we trust anything our society tells us about foreign cultures? And what made society this way? It looks to me like a circular system of ignorance, taken from the people and put into the media and then regurgitated back to the people again. We feel pressures from everywhere to think a certain way and value certain things. The worst part is that these pressures are conflicting and often leave people in distress, unable to fit all the molds that are pushed upon them. For example the girl in the bookstore who felt pressure to be “ashamed” of her taste in reading material was being told to act less “silly and girly” while the little girls watching cartoons as harmless as Phineas and Ferb and the Avengers are being told that “silly and girly” are their jobs and their way through which to approach life. 

        As far as gender culture goes, I noticed that people often make the mistake of thinking that our issue today is still people thinking “women can’t be successful or powerful” but this isn’t the case. Now, it’s “women must be women, and that is success.” It implies that a woman can and should be successful, but that her ultimate goal is still fulfilling her gender role and achieving love and beauty. While this is definitely a valid goal and a somewhat universal one, it is not a rule, and it creates a very negative pressure on women- to be successful AND beautiful AND loved AND to give all of this to a man and for the “man’s sake”. There is so much pressure, and our culture reflects this. Especially in Fairfield county, where beauty and affluence is everywhere.  Initially I felt hopeless- I worried that our society would never be able to escape the whirlwind of media culture brainwash- but then I remembered I was writing this. We can’t change the past and we will never be able to “forget” the traditional separations forced upon genders and races, be we can personally overcome them. Observing society and culture around you, constantly questioning things and exploring your own values is the best hope for awareness.  Awareness is key- you may not be able to change the society around you on a drastic scale, but you can control the way you interpret your cultural space.  There is hope for us, Fairfield county! (*Rings the bells of feminism and racial equality and skips through the streets*)

The Teenage Taboo

            As I was wandering around the mall a couple days ago, I noticed something particularly unnerving in Barnes and Noble. While perusing the shelves I walked past a few disgruntled employees restocking books in what appeared to be the “Teen Fiction” section. I overheard the male employee talking loudly about how  “s***ty” Twilight was and how irritating it was to deal with the billions of “stupid” teenage girls that came by looking for the books. His female coworker had chuckled in agreement, but quietly mumbled that they weren’t “that bad” and that she had actually enjoyed them. The male employee quite literally glared her down- after which he told her that she has “got to be kidding him” and that the books were “insipid teenage trash.” The girl quickly acquiesced and ducked her head in an ashamed way. At that point I had already lingered too long eavesdropping on their conversation so I casually strolled away, leaving this memorable scene behind.

            Several things bothered me about what had transpired. However, one particular thought really struck me. What’s the deal with teenage girls? Why does everything they touch apparently turn into something equivalent to dog feces?

It seems like whenever the general teenage girl population decides they like something, a taboo force field is placed around that thing and it automatically becomes worthless, frivolous, and silly. Take Justin Bieber, for example. While within the social sphere of the teenage girl there is pressure to like him, outside that sphere there is pressure to hate him- or be doomed to the superficial and naive teenage girl stereotype. Why can’t tastes be tastes? Does society need to portray the interests of teenage girls as cheap and silly? I think that this concept of the “teenage girl curse” really undermines feminism too. All too often I have discovered that one of my favourite self-proclaimed feminists falls prey to the trend of demeaning and patronizing teenage girls and their interests.

Being younger may make you less experienced, but does it make your interests any less sincere? I don’t believe so. It is sad that an older person like the girl employee in the bookshop feels the need to defend herself from being accused of sharing some tastes with a teenage girl demographic, like she should feel shameful of it. No wonder teenage girls are notorious for their low self esteem- they are constantly told that everything they love is silly and worthless and “insipid teenage trash.” Imagine a world in which tastes aren’t classified with certain genders and age groups. People would definitely feel more freedom to love what they love- and never be ashamed of it.

Cartoon Cult of Domesticity

            For my analysis of cartoons I chose 3 separate series. I chose one I was more familiar with, one I was a little familiar with, and one I was not familiar with at all in order to maintain a scale of objectivity in my analyses. The cartoons were Phineas and Ferb, Danny Phantom, and The Avengers, respectively. I chose to focus mainly on the role of gender in these cartoons, all though there are countless other cultural dimensions to be noted and analyzed. Here is what I observed:

 Phineas and Ferb: I love this show, and I generally think it is groundbreaking kids television and that it promotes very positive values, so I had to tackle this as objectively as I could. The first mini-story in the episode I watched centered around Phineas and Ferb’s mother’s birthday. In the beginning, the boys wonder what to do for her birthday and they enlist help from three of their friends, recurring characters on the show. Isabella, the next door neighbor and girls scout of the group, suggests that the thing that would make the boys mother the happiest is cleaning up the house. Although Isabella is an active and adventurous character, certainly rejecting many sexist stereotypes, she stays consistently within the boundaries of “normal girl” behaviors and roles. It seems as if Isabella suggests cleaning because she is a girl and would therefore have a greater insight into what mothers and housewives appreciate. Since she is a part of that domain, she recognizes that cleaning is “the mother’s job” and that doing it for her would be a gift. Despite her suggestion and supposed authority on the topic, the boys end up building a supercomputer to tell them the perfect gift. In programming the computer, they hooked up a machine to Phineas and Isabella’s head, in order to read and understand their brains. The readings that appeared on the screen for Phineas were a series of complex scientific equations. The readings for Isabella, however, were only pictures; one of a bunny rabbit and another of Phineas’s head with a heart around it. So although the cartoon depicted a girl helping on the same level as the boys to build the machine, it depicted her contributions as being strictly “feminine.” I.e. teaching the computer about love and cuteness, while Phineas (the male) contributed his great intellect and scientific mastery.  While the argument can be made that both qualities are equally important for a supercomputer, the cartoon had no doubt made the differences between boy’s and girl’s thoughts clear- training kids watching the show to believe that their brains and priorities were similarly differentiated.            

I found another example of gender based task separation in the second mini-story, wherein we see the boys building a “fun house” inside their house. When we check in on Isabella, we see that she is in charge of the “cookie room,” a huge pink room in which Isabella is hard at work cutting out huge, heart shaped cookies. Once again, the girl is sent to perform duties specifically belonging to her domain- cooking and ensuring “cuteness” and love in the atmosphere. I have observed the phenomenon in countless cartoons and tv shows alike- women’s plotlines and goals revolve solely around love and beauty. No matter how kickass the woman character is (Yay Isabella!), or how many awesome, non-stereotypical things they do, their overarching purpose is always something like love or popularity. Unlike male protagonists and side characters who set out to change the world or cure cancer, female “endgame” is depicted as achieving the kind of “home-making love” that can be seen in Isabella’s baking of heart shaped cookies.

In the other two cartoons I watched, I saw this trend clearly. In Danny Phantom, the central antagonist of the episode was a girl named Valarie who wanted revenge on Danny for making her lose her popularity. Her overarching mission was love and acceptance from her group of popular friends- who rejected her because her father lost his job and she could no longer afford cute clothes. Danny’s overarching mission, however, was to valiantly rid the world of evil ghosts and threats to their safety. In the avengers, the main characters fighting evil were all men. The female characters that did exist (in ridiculously tight and impractical costumes) were only there to serve as love interests and participants in  the men’s complicated pasts.

Their was one particularly hilarious scene where a man and a woman were fighting- a man threw a grenade and the camera zoomed in on his muscled arm powerfully extending. When they flipped to the female, however, we got a close up view of her mouth where she removed the grenade pin slowly with her tongue before tossing it weakly. Not only were the women sexualized, but they were shown weakened by love- the villain lost because she loved the hero character- while the men were shown strengthened by love- not their own, but the love the women characters bestowed upon them. While these cartoon seem progressive at first- women play big parts- they are actually subtlety reinforcing sexism and gender role assignments. Making little girls watching think; yes, they are important and can do awesome things, but there importance and ability is only as a supporting part of the man’s whole, carefully fulfilling the duties of the feminine domain.

Harold and Kumar

            It was New Years, and I was attending a party thrown by a few of my friends in Weston who were home from various colleges. It was a big event, packed with people I didn’t know- introducing themselves to me one second and belting Les Mis songs in my face the next. I watched the rambunctious and privileged youths swirl around me in a frenzy of classic high school behavioral tropes. Little did they know, I was carefully observing and analyzing their actions to discover more about the cultural and social atmosphere of Fairfield county. (Obviously a really fun way to spend your New Years.) The night was very hectic, filled with a lot of talking- mostly me quizzing college students nervously about the applications process and their high school gpas- but at one point I wondered out onto the porch for a quiet moment and discovered something worth consideration.

I had sat at a picnic table with several other people whom I did not know already crowded around it. At the table were a handful of classically white, upper middle class college boys and one college age Asian boy conversing. The three white guys were obviously buddies and had only met the Asian guy several times prior, so they were talking to him in an introductory manner. They regarded him warily until the Asian guy started talking about all the crazy parties he went to and how he had nearly flunked one of his more challenging college classes. At this, the three boys looked visibly relaxed.

“Whoa dude you’re really chill. Like your not all Asian or whatever you’re so relaxed” one guy exclaimed.

Then his friend had a revelation.

“Yo you’re totally like Harold from Harold and Kumar”

The third musketeer nodded frantically, enthusiastically agreeing.

“Yo dude no way he totally is! You’re like smart but you’re also chill!”

The Asian guy let out a weak laugh, muttering an obviously rehearsed “Oh I get that all the time. Sometimes I show up to costume parties without a costume and just say I’m Harold from Harold and Kumar.”

The three guys laughed, accepting his acceptance of their systematic stereotyping. They seemed relieved he wasn’t a “classic Asian” and instead fit into another one of their handful of Asian characterizations. I had to wonder to myself, since when is race considered a costume?  Why do white people and Asian people and Black people and Albino people feel like they have to confine themselves to the linear requirements of their race? When we assign people roles and places in society, no matter how favorable, why does race always factor in? In the end, the colour of your skin guarantees nothing about your personality. Believing so is stereotyping. This Asian guy, whose name I unfortunately do not know, reminded me nothing of Harold from Harold and Kumar. For one thing, Harold would never slack off in his college classes the way the Asian guy was describing. He reminded me more of Hyde from “That 70’s Show” to be honest.

The point is, the youth of Fairfield county have been conditioned by whitewashing of TV shows and movies, and the predictable and distinct caricature-like roles assigned to those characters of colour, that they can’t consider personalities divorced from race.

I have another excellent example which I observed some time ago but still sticks with me today. When I was on my community service trip, a few of the girls and I were gathered inside one of the buildings, painting the walls of the school we helped build. To pass the time and have fun, we assigned each other different Disney Princesses according to how they matched our personality. (I got Megara, obviously...) When it came to my friend Brenna several of us agreed that she would be Tiana (from the Princess Frog) without a doubt. Although in my mind Brenna was a carbon copy of Tiana in every sense of her character, Brenna and others were hesitant to accept the role.

“But I’m white!” Brenna protested.

Several of the girls agreed with her. They were by no means racist people, far from it, but their point was derivative of something inlaid in their minds since birth; that race would always separate us as people and define (to some extent) our personalities. Instead of embracing the cultures of many races and considering them equal, we have been taught to alienate all others and view our culture as the baseline "normal."

The Hummus Incident

What is the real purpose/function of so called "foreign" restaurants in our county?

Are we really showing diversity, or just another instance of cultural appropriation?

In Greek restaurants all around Fairfield county and as far as I'm aware, the entire northeast, several dips, like tzatziki, hummus, and tapenade are served Grecian bread and pita, in a classic Grecian meal. I always thought that when visiting these restaurants I was eating the same food that the residents of Greece were serving at their dinner tables. However, can we really be sure we are eating a genuine foreign cuisine? What if these foreign restaurants have been conditioned to include food on their menus that is actually very far from their traditional cuisine, only to accommodate the tastes of Americans? One of these accommodations that I observe constantly is Chinese food being served at most Japanese restaurants and vice versa. From what I’ve heard from my friends and relatives, this is because most Americans can't tell the difference between the two. Some accommodations are more subtle, like what I’ve decided to call “The Hummus Incident.” It happened last week when my family was in Greece, visiting a local restaurant. My father is a lover of hummus, and since he is a proud Jew his penchant for this middle eastern delicacy never surprised us. What surprised us, however, was that hummus (while served regularly at Greek restaurants in the US) was actually a nonexistent food in real Greece. The waiter looked offended when my father asked casually for hummus.

Hummus?

 He took a second to recognize what my father was talking about, and then he said; "no, we don't have any hummus. This is not the middle east. You are in Greece. Here, the closest thing we have is pureed chickpeas."

His sneer was obvious. My father balked, and I felt chagrined on his behalf, mentally face palming for his cultural “faux-pas.”

My father settled for the chickpea paste. As expected, it did not compare. It was shocking to me that my father could be so accidentally ignorant. He is generally a very respectful and open-minded man, especially when it comes to other cultures. I had obviously known that hummus was a middle-eastern thing, and middle-eastern only. (Although I admit that is only because I watched this one short film that mentioned it in Hebrew school) But then I came to realize that it was understandable my father had made this mistake. He had been conditioned by living in Fairfield County to believe that there were certain cultural traditions that in actuality, never existed and were probably forced upon the foreign restaurants. This revelation brings up some very interesting and nearly unanswerable questions. Can we pick and choose what parts of foreign cultures to embrace? Are we really embracing them if we do so? If not, how can we truly embrace a culture without “Americanizing” it? Just some questions to think on...