On my fourth birthday, my parents bought me a small play kitchen. After months of nagging and trying to convince them to buy me one whenever we would go into toy stores, I was so excited that I had finally gotten my very own kitchen. I remember making my older sister be my helper like my mom would often make us do when she was making dinner. Together we would pretend to make all the foods we used to love. Always, when we would finish making our pretend meals, I would take plates full of that imaginary food to my mom and dad. Playing along with my fantasy food, they would take pretend bites of the plastic chicken and vegetables I would offer them and say how delicious it tasted.
Playing with this play kitchen helped shape the idea that my grandmother and aunts would repeatedly tell me: I had to learn how to cook so that when I was older and married a man, he would come home to a home-cooked meal. Even though my parents were the ones who bought me this play kitchen, my mom was a strong feminist influence who taught me at a young age that I could accomplish a bright future on my own and not depend financially on a man. This dichotomy between feminist and sexist beliefs has ultimately led to my view that any man is capable and should be taught how to domestic "female" tasks.
At the time, as kids tend to, I viewed this play-set as just another added piece to my collection of toys I would entertain myself during playtime. But looking back at this play kitchen with a critically vigilant lens, I see now that I got this kitchen because I am a girl. I realize now that especially in Latino families, traditional Latino fathers would never allow their young sons to own, much less spend their time playing, with a “girls toy”. From a young age, boys are excluded and taught that a universal thing like a kitchen has been viewed for many years as something that belongs to females. It is minor actions such as this are what continue to sustain the ideas that it is unacceptable for boys to do “feminine things”, like play with a kitchen, that have developed the patriarchal ideology that has suppressed females for years.
Prompt #1:
The cultural object I chose is the music video for the popular 2017 song 1-800-273-8255
by Logic featuring Alessia Cara and Khalid. The video tells the journey of a
teenage boy struggling to come to embrace his sexuality. It shows the life of a
typical high school boy on the track team surrounded by people yet feeling alone
trying to cope with the pressure to find a way to accept himself and having to
tell his family after being caught with a male magazine in his room. The video
shows the turn the life of the boy as he is outed for being gay after spending
the sleeping in the same bed as his male best friend. After his locker is defaced
by his fellow teammates, he feels the weight of coming out to be too much, he pulls
a gun hidden in his home and struggles to point it at himself. He continues on
by running, so as to clear his head, and then calling the suicide hotline. The
end of the video shows that despite an agonizing journey, there is light despite
all the darkness. I chose this particular music video because it reminded me of
a friend from high school who is an open transgender male who was going through depression
at the time and told me his experience calling the National Suicide Prevention
Lifeline one day.
Prompt #2: 5 Key Questions
1.The
creators of 1-800-273-8255 are the record label Def Jam Recordings and the artist
Logic, Alessia Cara, and Khalid who wrote the song and were featured in the
music video. It took various writers, producers, record label executives along
with video directors and editors to approve and create the final version of
this song and the story of the young boy struggling with his sexuality the music
video follows.
2.The
video utilizes an eye-level viewpoint that allows the audience to picture
themselves alongside the boy, as if looking at his journey over his shoulder.
The dark lighting in the majority of the video accentuates the despair those
who are struggling with their sexuality, depression, and many other issues feel
constantly entrapped in. The people in the video are shown as living normal
lives. The protagonist is an ordinary teenage boy who goes to high school, is
on the school track team, and has a close friend who he can talk to. As this is
the typical high school experience, every person who watches this music video
and went to high school can relate their teenage years to at least one aspect of
the story. This makes the story feel real and can apply to anyone who has felt alone,
viewing suicide is the only answer to end their suffering.
3.Personally,
I have not had an experience like the one conveyed in the video. Being straight,
I do not know nor have experienced the disquiet a person struggling to accept
their sexuality. However, I have a friend who once called the National
Suicide Prevention Lifeline whose story is similar in the way that he is transsexual
and felt rejected from his family for being who he truly was. As people have
different views and personal beliefs, most shaped by religion, there are people
who are likely to disagree with the message this video is trying to convey.
Deeply religious viewers who are strongly opposed to the LGBTQ community may
interpret this message as appalling, something that shouldn’t be mentioned or
acknowledged.
4.The
inner turmoil of sexuality other than the “socially accepted” heterosexuality
is represented in this message. Audience members who are a part of the LGBTQ
community and anyone who has felt deep loss for life are invited to connect
with the video. The idea of that people apart of the LGBTQ community struggle
with coming to accept and embrace their sexuality, especially at a young age,
go through many times alone. The video also depicts the possible consequences
of being bullied as well as not being accepted by family for being anything
other than socially acceptable.
5.1-800-273-8255,
both the song and the music video, was created to raise awareness in listeners/viewers
of the free National Suicide Prevention Lifeline anyone can call for support 24/7.
The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline gains from this song because it gives a
large-scale exposure to their service on mainstream media and gets people
talking about resources available to anyone in need. The benefit of this song is
for individuals going through a crisis with no help and are in need of someone
to talk to.
