on hindsight, i'm glad i took this module, it's very insightful and there are many useful takeaways that will help build interpersonal relationships. my only bother is that it's twice a week so i was not able to squeeze it between my other modules to get free days. then again, the classes were really relaxed and chilled, so it wasn't that bad.
initially, i was daunted on how i was supposed to tackle the third assignment. new topic, finding your own samples and research papers. it was quite difficult at first, but as the momentum built up over the sem, it started to form shape and now it's almost over. i'm glad i chose my topic of compliments and used the talk shows on youtube as samples. i actually enjoyed viewing them and it did not feel like a chore. some were quite funny:
well, with exams coming up and freedom beckons, i'll end off with this
My topic for the paper is the difference in compliment styles between genders. Initially, I faced some difficulties getting my primary data and even considered using friends to have them tape their conversations for the entire day. But after some discussion in class a couple of week back, the idea of reviewing reality television shows and talk shows came up. This is indeed a life saver since snippets of the more interesting interviews can be found easily on youtube. Eventually, I managed to find a number of interviews on youtube easily and it is a relief that the task of finding my own primary source wasn't that hard as expected. However, I'm not too sure how I am going to include them in my reference section...
Hopefully the link works. If not it's Why Are Women So Strange and Men So Weird? by Bruce Christopher. It pretty much sums up what we've read so far in Mars & Venus and it's quite funny too.
I wasn't expecting much for a 1982 show but it was really good and enjoyable movie to watch. Tootise is a romantic comedy starring Dustin Hoffman as Michael Dorsey. He was a stubborn guy and thought that he was always right. As a result, he could not get a proper job as an actor and finally decided to play as a woman, Dorothy Michaels, in a soap opera for money. In order to play as a woman, he had to moderate his personality and make an effort to communicate, which he did not initially. Eventually, Dorothy's character earned respect from women watching the show as she was a role model to them, standing up against men who made use of women. However, that also attracted two men to Dorothy and this provided much comic relief throughout the show. In the end, he had to reveal himself to pursue his love interest.
The most interesting for me is that, despite being a man, Michael was able to attract not one, but two older men, while playing Dorothy's character. Naturally, one would think that older men would be attracted to younger and more beautiful ladies and Dorothy was neither. There was even this scene during the filming of the soap opera where a cameraman suggested zooming out all the way to Cleveland to make Dorothy look prettier. Perhaps since Dorothy displayed authority that most women did not portray at that time, men were attracted to her as she was different from most women. As Dorothy was in fact Michael, a man, it was also easy for him to exercise authority and connect with men.
Another thing I would like to share is a similar article that I read on yesterday's Straits Times Life page. It's about how winners of Oscar's Best Actress tend to divorce their husbands a few years later. These actresses include Halle Berry, Hilary Swank, Reense Whiterspoon, Kate Winslet and Sandra Bullock. In fact, it was also scientifically proven recently. Interestingly, this was not the case for winners of Best Actor. A possible explanation was the husband's discomfort with his wife's fame and success. Also, with her increased status, the wife may have become unsatisfied with her spouse or even have the confidence and opportunity to move away from a bad marriage.
With that said, hopefully Natalie Portman doesn't win this year's Best Actress. She's in this trailer, if you haven't seen it hahaha
I was reading through the comments on gender stereotypes in the media on Nicholas' blog and I thought that the discussion was interesting. I feel that the advertisers managed to use these stereotypes effectively with humor to sell their products and just for fun, I searched "Gender Stereotypes" on youtube. This was what I got, so I thought I'd share it here. (Pardon the inappropriate thumbnail hahaha)
Recently, there is this case where two professional commentators, Andy Gray and Richard Keys, were sacked because they discriminated women. They spoke offensively about women and even made inappropriate comments directly to their female counterparts. Even though most of these comments were made off-air, the videos somehow surfaced online and this eventually resulted in the suspension of their contracts.
This serves as a reminder for men, myself included, that we should evaluate our comments before making any remarks on women, or for any other matter.
