InsaneJournal

Youtube as medium for academic discourse
Wow. This is fascinating.

Sexism, Strength and Dominance: Masculinity in Disney Films

It's not exactly groundbreaking subject matter - Disney's portrayals of masculinity warp boys just as much as their depictions of femininity warp girls - but the fact that it's the equivalent of an academic paper...on Youtube is fascinating. It allows the argument to really work on multiple levels: the ethos of facts and examples and the pathos of seeing these films that we grew up with. To me, the argument is greatly enhanced by showing Simba and Scar fight rather than just saying "The movie's climax is a brutal battle between Simba and his evil uncle."

That being said, I think there's some criticism that can rightfully be leveled at this piece, namely with the references to Beauty and the Beast. Does Gaston thinking the beast is weak and unmanly truly support the argument that Disney is teaching our boys to behave this way? Gaston is the bad guy, and clearly has been throughout; everyone that we are sympathetic to thinks he's an idiot. I always thought it was obvious that we shouldn't be like Gaston? And I'm sure that somewhere in Disney cartoons we get a good guy implying that one needs to be aggressive in order to be manly (Mulan, anyone? Or maybe there's something in Aladdin? Certainly Mufasa and Simba, in all their light color, muscular strength, are better than thin, dark Scar).

But shortcomings of the actual argument aside: I want to post academic work on Youtube! Appropriate mindless Web 2.0 (I don't even know what that phrase actually refers to, but I think Youtube is probably part of it) applications for something useful! VIVA LA REVOLUTION!