The Queue of Lady M

Lady Macbeth doesn't really seem like the  Netflix type but I could see her enjoying a good drama, action movie, or horror with a glass of wine and ice cream.  She wouldn't have any guilty pleasures per se  but would stray away from the cult classics and go into more fringe genres.


http://la-screenwriter.com/2012/03/12/script-kill-bill-volumes-i-ii/

Kill Bill Vol. I is the quintessential tale of revenge and epic "bad-assness".  The lead role is portrayed by Uma Thurman who goes through this cyclic evolution of assassin, mother, record store employee, fiancee, childless, and then assassin.  The story starts in the middle where you find her in a hospital bed after being comatose for about three years. We later find out that she was nearly beat to death and her fiancee and all the other attendees at the wedding were murdered in cold blood in attempts to sever complete ties with her former assassin group and her ex and baby's father, Bill.  She vows to kill everyone in the assassin group, including Bill to avenge her loved ones' deaths.  Lady Macbeth would gravitate to this story because of its passionate violence and strong female role as well as the dismantling of traditional female roles.  Four-fifths of the assassin gang consisted of women participating in unconventional roles, such as killing men (she's very familiar with this).  Lady Macbeth would also appreciate Thurman's character's aim in preserving the ideals of family and love.




Scandal is a series centered around the White House, a scandalous mecca of sex, lies, and betrayal. Although the setting is in D.C and has political undertones, it is very much a love story centered around the president and his lover, Olivia Pope, a political "fixer" who eradicates scandal in politicians and the elites' lives before it hits the media circuits.  However, she has trouble erasing the scandal in her life and jumps through hoops to keep the president in office and maintaining her anonymity as the "other woman" in Americans' minds.  The extraordinary aims of Olivia Pope fixing people's lives can be matched with the Lady's due to her participating in regicide to better her life and her husband's. She can also relate due to her cover the truth and order to protect her power.



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Walking_Dead_(TV_series)

This series is one of the goriest, taken place in a post-apocalyptic world filled with zombies caused by a mysterious virus that ravages anyone bitten from a zombie or if someone dies, they virus is immediately triggered.  The main character is Rick Grimes, a former Atlanta Sheriff who has to protect his son and daughter from the likes of cannibalistic psychos, morally corrupt killers, and the everyday walker.  Emotions flare high in every episodes due to the mental and physical environment lived day to day by every member of his armed convoy of people who lost everything after the epidemic and all just want to simply survive. This will appeal to Lady Macbeth's to again protect her family. But also plays into her fears of losing and not surviving.  She is intimidated and violent towards those who confront her (more in a verbal sense) to protect her self from loss.



http://www.btchflcks.com/2013/11/veronica-decides-not-to-die-heathers-the-proto-mean-girls.html#.VIY7DzHF8To

The Heathers is a tale about an elite clique of pretty high-schoolers who aren't really friends but maintain cordiality to reap the perks of being popular.  Veronica, played by Winona Ryder got fed up by the Heathers' behaviors and found solace in the new boy and outcast J.D.  J.D is conniving  and tricks Veronica in poisoning Heather Duke and helps her fake it into look a suicide.  She is overcome with guilt and realizes that J.D is murdering everyone he doesn't like while climbing the rungs of the social ladder at school.  He is just like Lady Macbeth in this sense.  She'll enjoy the suspenseful nature of the tale as well as the motives of deceit and socio-political prowess.

Masculinity and Manhood in Macbeth

The value of manhood is transient through time. It has always been held higher than womanhood. And there's no sound justification for it.  It stems from the roots of patriarchy.  The patriarchal system has achieved and maintained hegemony across cultures and time because men are collectively stronger than women and are able to dominate as well as dictate what ideals are upheld because it's easy to control the "weak ".  For the most part, no one wants to be viewed as weak. The antithesis to weakness by default is masculinity and manhood because it is the polar opposite of femininity and womanhood. This makes sense. At first.  Then I think about the resilience of women as a collective, and not just pertaining to the body.  I think females draw their strength through hardships that would not exist if there had not been a patriarchal system in place.  So women and men are both strong because of how they react to situations. Individuals however, tend to slip up.  Macbeth had a major slip up.  He killed people. He's exerting power and strength but he is weak in mind and spirit.  Intrinsically, he is not a good man nor a good person.  I think the definition of a good man is muddled down to whether a man does everything that's expected of him imposed by society and even further, the system of patriarchy.  He's supposed to be successful and building a life for himself, his family, and the generations that follow.  He's supposed to have financial wealth and must maintain respect from his peers and community.  These are all aspects of what a man does and not how a man thinks. I believe the mentality of a person defines their character more than how they act toward others.  Before anyone performs an action they must think about it first.  Before Macbeth went on a killing spree he first had to think about killing them and have the character to be willing to kill. The pressures of being a "good" man plagues all men because it creates unrealistic expectations.  Macbeth had the unrealistic expectation that he would be able to get away with the murder of king and take his place.  Lady Macbeth had these expectations as well and this highlights the permeating notion that men are the sole "movers and shakers" of society which in the end hurts everyone.

"Freebie"

Dress to Kill

Nike, "Dress to Kill",1984
This advertisement expresses an the apparent avarice. While browsing the web for advertisements, this deadly sin was most pronounced because it's arguably the most universal sin that everyone posseses to a certain degree. Pride and consumerism go hand and hand and when advertisers. They make consumers feel better about themselves when they buy their products. The sinful aspects of pride are when people compromise the livelihoods of others through acts of selfishness. You hear these stories about parents buying luxury cars and boats but have no money to pay for college tuition simply because they want to keep with the Joneses.
This couple looks to be the physical manifestation of the Joneses. They're fit, attractive, and wearing relatively expensive clothing. The intended audience of this ad are people who aspire to live this lifestyle of familial and financial success. One specific quote , "take a tip from the pros" really highlights the persuasive nature of the ad. This makes me believe their target groups are both people who already have the status of wealth but also the "have-nots" who want to be more successful.  Nike's aims for being a global brand was fulfilled due it's universal appeal to wanting to be a better person.

The Canterbury Tales and Jane Eyre

The phrase "Yes, but we are not ton conform to nature" stated by Mr. Brocklehurst to Miss Temple. This illustrates the imbalance of moral and spiritual obligations and worldly motivations influenced by experience.  The characterization of Mr. Brocklehurst also depicts the convolutedness and intricacies of beliefs that are influenced by experience.  In his case, he was a  respected male with a high social standing and held an occupation and with Eyre, she was a poor orphaned girl. These different demographics inact different interactions between people which form distinct experiences specific to these demographics. Our experiences also cause us to interpretation differently. "We are are not conform to nature" is used as a tool to stop women and women like Eyre to live authentically and to exclude them from the interpretations of how society and individuals of society should act.

What's In a Name?

II would like to first talk about how boring I find my name. Kayla is very common for girls in my age demographic. I wanted to feel special about my name and the cool meaning behind it but it simply means pure. My last name I like way more because it has a more complex story. It's Scottish and an occupational last name. Like my first name, my last name doesn't define me either. I'm not Scottish and my ancestors probably weren't tailors. I does provide a better understanding of my identity. My great-grandmother, who is still alive today was a sharecropper and lived, interacted, and experienced the testament s of slavery through her grandparents. Their owners were of Scottish descent, which was the majority of Halifax county. My last name depicts the complexities of human interaction and development over time.

I feel like I'm two completely different people depending on which parent's house I'm living in. Because I spend less time with my mother, I feel she tries to make up for the lost time and almost feels guilty for seeing us less than when her and my dad were married. I think my dad feels guilty too because he works a ton. He tends to get more stressed so I get more stressed as a result and become distant. My mother on the other hand, tries to make the environment seem comfortable and relaxed. I thrive in her home. I seem to get more work done and I feel I can live more authentically. Because my dad is so stressed out I don't want to branch out and voice my concerns which would create a more stressful environment. I'm extremely reserved at my dad's and almost pensive and lofty at my mother's. My role as a daughter, to love my family and help is the smart in both households, they're just executed differently to accomadate the situational aspects.

Othering by Huie and Atwood

http://38.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lz3lkxgSZm1r3166lo1_r1_1280.jpg,

"American Girls", Frogtown, St. Paul, Minnesota (1993 - 1995)- Wing Young Huie  From the Archive

This picture depicts an interracial couple kissing with two young smiling gazers.  The setting appears to be looks urban or even rural due to the dilapidated buildings.  The caption reads:


"This is my first American girlfriend. We met at a party and she asked me to go to a movie with her. I like American girls. I would like to marry an American girl because they are more pretty. I like how they act, all nice and stuff. I like Mexican girls too. But they are different. I can’t explain how."

http://know.wingyounghuie.com/tagged/From+the+Archive/page/3, Accessed 9/7/2014.


A deeper examination of this picture can first be critiqued by the color contrast.  The color contrast between the woman and man highlights the "otherness" of the two individuals.  Him, being a Mexican-American and her being a White-American.  The lady also seem very aggressive while kissing the man.  I look at this stereo typically: Western women  are looked at as more daring for displaying their sexuality because their default display of sexuality is reserved or modest. Women of color, and in this case Latinas, are often displayed as promiscuous, "spicy", alluring, and sexy. We can also juxtapose the beauty norms of western culture and that of Latin America.  Euro-centric beauty ideals have been ingrained in every culture colonized by Europe, which is the entirety of Latin America.  I critically assess the claim, "I would like to marry an American girl because they are more pretty." The apparent ambiguity of "American Girl" should be highlighted.  He follows this statement by saying "I like Mexican Girls too". The question arises: "Does he generalize Mexicans as not being American living in the U.S" and "Does he view himself as being American" This creates the otherness-sameness dichotomy by generalizing behaviors of different ethnicities and nationalities and  and also propagates the stereotypes that Latin women are aggressive. He ends his statement with: " I like Mexican girls too. But they are different. I can't explain how. " He blatantly professed the otherness of Mexican and American girls but he couldn't conceptualize his statement suggesting that this type of thought is normalized.

Margaret Atwood and Wing Young Huie both portray the concept of "otherness" by contextually depicting individuals.  You understand individuals background through societal context.  The privileged-underprivileged dichotomy, female and male relations, religious and political conservatism, and the disenfranchisement of minorities.