A day at the museum. For most adult this wouldn't be a fun prospect so why on earth would a teacher pick a museum for a field trip? Especially a museum holding a exhibiton on ancient weaponry. However the 'Armed and Dangerous' exhibit is an exhibit that is valuable to any middle or highschool  history class.

Though this is not to say that violence should be encouraged in schools. It is very true that most teenagers have and intrest in things they have never seen before. They search the internet continuously for unique things they have never seen or heard of before. An art museum holding and exhibit of weaponry is deffinitely one of them.

It is important for students in todays history classes to learn about the weapons used during a certain period. Students who would not normally find the subject of history intresting at all would be drawn in by this intresting topic which captures the imaginations of boys and girl who may have used similar weapons in video games or seen them in movies.

With their intrests sparked students become more willing to learn and will more easily take in the information learned in a class when their minds recall a certain weapon used during that time period. Such as the collection of samurai sword and the samurai armor on display when talking about fuedal japan.

This exhibit would also appeal to the art students even though the common artist was probably not the main focus of this exhibit. Artists in every field can gain inspiration from the the decoration and design of these weapons. Unlike todays weapons which are built solely to get the job done, weapons of past era were not only used for the purpose of killing but were used in cermony, and festivals. Because of these uses these weapons were at times highly decorated as well as useful.

Designers can take inspiration from the designs on the hilt of the tanto to the fringe on the cerimonial spears. Taking these old world examples and using them to formulate new designs. Metalsmiths can gain inspiration to bring their craftmanship to a higher level. Also these works can be used as refrences for illustrators and animators who can use them to bring a new sense of realism to a piece that may not normally have possessed and realism at all if not for a refrence.

The set up of the exhibit to me was a little strange that main area of the exhibit waswell layed out but there was a certain part of the exhibit that lead to a door that lead to a flight of stairs, these stairs were not marked with any sort of sign that signaled wether the exhibit continued this way. It was also not marked to say wether it was an exit or not. Not sure wether to go up or not I turned around and was forced to back track a little which in some cases can be fine but I wasn't really intrested in. The stair case felt kind of like a tease and left me wishing their was more to the exhibit.

Otherwise I believe this exhibit was quite successful in accomplishing the goal of the museum which was to draw people who may not normally come to the art museum in. At the opening night there were many types of people including knights in full armor sword fighting and the excitement remained in the exhibit even after the open house was over. Near the end of the exhibition a metal smith held a tour of the exhibit and gave his opinion on the pieces. I hope that Armed and Dangerous has paved the way for the Brooks Museum, and we will be able to continue to see exhibits which may not have normally been held in an art museum.

Adra Maner

Writing II

Bibbs

03/05/12

Hyper-feminization, and the changing roles of Women.

In our culture today I believe there is a gross over usage of the hyper-feminine character however the hyper-feminine is presented in my opinion in a negative light. Usually the most 'girly' members of any TV show or movies live a very posh life and tend to have a rather bitchy attitude. Take for example the show Glee where the posh cheerleaders who are some of the more feminine members of the club have rather foul attitudes and loose morals at times.

This stereotype is played out over and over again in many different TV shows. But it wasn't always that way, the more feminine characters were seen as wholesome girls next door or the gentle home-maker wives of the 1950's, 60's, and 70's. Though unconventional Lucy from I love lucy was an example she was mostly a very feminine character who was scatter brained but still preformed the tasks expected for women of that time. Such as raising, the children, cooking (though she might have burned quiet a few things), and cleaning.

Now In todays culture there alot more examples of non-feminine characters then there were in the past. Tom-boyish girls or nerdy girls who care little about wearing makeup or heels. Sometimes these girls may jsut be less feminine then their counter-parts on the shows and they are lost in the crowd because they tend to have more lax personalities compared to those of the hyper-feminine bitchy characters on a show.

 

In 'The Lesson' the hyper feminine character is judged to be a bitch by the younger less feminine girls they talk about how they were forced to dress well because of her "And our parents would yank our heads into some kinda shape and crisp up our clothes so we'd be presentable for travel with Miss Moore, who always looked like she was going to church, though she never did "(Bambara 265). This may have been the start of this tend of hyper-feminine women being pigeon holed into the role of the bitch. In the past women however it was assumed that if you did not dress properly you were not a good woman such as when the girl in the poem 'Girl" is scolded by her mother "This is how to hem a dress when you see the hem coming down and so to prevent yourself from looking like a slut" (Kincaid 525). Women who dressed well were seen to a higher standard and considered to be good women unlike in todays culture.

 

We have a lack of Female role models in our culture. There are very few characters that represent Femininity well so it cause girls to see these woman and begin to rebel becoming the typical character who is seen in a tomboyish or lazy light on tv; thus continuing the cycle. Maybe it is because of the posh nature of a culture today, which of course causes a reflection in todays tv program but I'm sure though we need more positive role models we may be waiting for quite awhile.

 

 

In our culture today I believe there is a gross over usage of the hyper-feminine character however the hyper-feminine is presented in my opinion in a negative light. Usually the most 'girly' members of any tv show or movie lives a very posh life and tend to have a rather bitchy attitude. Take for example the show Glee where the posh cheerleaders who are some of the more feminine members of the club have rather foul attitudes and loose morals at times.

This stereotype is played out over and over again in many diffrent tv shows. But it wasn't always that way, the more feminine characters were seen as wholesome girls next door or the home making wife