Everyone’s equal in “Glee.” Or not.
Everyone's free to sing on "Glee," but only the boys can play football.
At my school, at least, it almost seems the two are synonymous.
The other night, I sat down with my brother to watch the Glee “Thriller” half-time episode. We were so excited about the show and had been living in suspense for days.
The too-short ads, blasting “Thriller” by Michael Jackson and showcasing puffy skirts and shuffling zombies had heightened our excitement until I was sitting down with huge expectations of wonderful dances, pyrotechnics and some amazing vocals.
 And it lived up to it.
Glee served up some wonderful dance moves and singing, but halfway through an impromptu dance session with my hairbrush in my hand, pretending to be Rachel, I stopped and looked at the screen properly.
 “Why are the girls lying on the ground, not playing?” I asked my brother. (For people who don’t watch the show, the Glee girls had stepped into the all male gridiron football team to save their fellow glee members from having to forfeit the game.)
 My brother answered, “Oh, well, they can’t play. They just lie on the ground and the boys play around them.”
 Sorry! What? Continue reading
Kim Kardashian… further playing into straight male fantasy
Well, hetero male Super Bowl watchers, if you’ve ever fantasized about doing it with Kim Kardashian, there’s this commercial is for you. Look, she’s lying on her back! Oh, but then she’s breaking up with you… I mean her trainer. So she can spend more time with… her shoes?
Is it a commercial, or is it soft-core tease porn? And how much more sexist could a Super Bowl ad get?
In what may be the most appropriate use of her butt ever, Kim stands on her tip-toes to throw a towel over her workout equipment, which emphasizes her ass-ets even more.
At the very end, she walks by an “average Joe” kind of guy who is not as ripped as man #1. Thus, men can feel like yes, they really do have a chance with Kim Kardashian.
Oh Kim, if only you had a little self-respect.
Note: Use women as accessories more, Verizon NFL Mobile.
While we really can’t get too up-in-arms about this one, it’s important to notice how many times women are used as accessories. In this case, they’re kind of background props. They just threw 3-4 bikini-clad women in there for fun.
And then, yeah, slamming Roseanne Barr with a log is funny too.
This is just the teaser for now, but let’s put it this way: Telling someone he’s acting like a complaining (Jewish, male) comic (Richard Lewis) but then slamming the female one (Roseanne Barr) with a log is sorta… misogynistic?
It’s a play on the Betty White ad from last year, which also struck us sorta … not funny.
who needs books? (or: books are for sissies)
Bud Light commercial: some women are sitting around in a living room having a book club meeting. A man, presumably a husband or boyfriend, enters with beer. He sits down, starts handing out beer, and dominates the conversation, cutting off his presumed girlfriend/wife and telling one of the other participants that “I’d love to hear you read sometime.”
One: CREEPY.
Two: why can’t boys read? Seriously, Budweiser. Making one of your dudes respond to the question “Do you like Little Women” with “I’m not picky” is just offensive to everyone.
Three: the commercial says that Bud is a sure sign of a good time, as though a book club can’t actually be a good time?
Four: why can’t boys read? This commercial isn’t nice to anyone. It makes guys look bad, it makes girls look bad, and it pretty seriously makes me never want to drink Bud Light (not that I would anyway). –Melissa
Who needed that wife anyway?
At first, I thought this Bridgestone ad was insinuating that the people inside were having some sort of altercation when the woman emerged from the car, breathless and frightened. Then I realized that she was forced out of the car, handed over like a piece of property or a ransom.
I’ll back up. A black, tinted-window car sits on a rainy road. A bunch of white men with indeterminate villainous accents broadcast, “Your tires, or your life!” A tall blonde woman (of course) wearing a black, leather corset-y catsuit gets out of the car (it looks like she’s pushed out). The men say “Your life, not your wife!”
–Jennifer
FloTV: Change out of that skirt, Jason
FloTV’s ad: Woman and man are walking through a store and she’s shopping for clothes. Announcer, who is in the picture, says “Jason’s spine has been removed by his girlfriend.” Then Jason and his girlfriend are shopping for “lavender candles”, which is “preventing him from watching the game.” The announcer guy then states that Jason really should have this floTV product that would let him watch the game and NOT spend time with his girlfriend at all. Awesome.
The ending quote, “Change out of that skirt, Jason.”
You know, they really are handing them to us this year, and I’m really learning a lot about how men are supposed to behave, what their lives are supposed to be, and how they should not, under any circumstances, let women control them. (See Dove, Dockers, and Dodge Charger ads for other examples.)
Because guys really should not forget how limited their behavior and their gender expression really is. That would threaten… what? Their watching of the Super Bowl? Beer sale?
–Jennifer
MAN’S LAST STAND
THIS JUST IN: men need to drive Dodge Chargers because they are constantly emasculated in their daily lives by having to do the following things:
- cleaning up after themselves
- going to work
- talking to their girlfriends
- watching True Blood
- shaving
- putting their underwear in the hamper
Sorry, all men everywhere, I didn’t realize I was cramping your style by expecting you to be a reasonably neat person who helps with household duties and works a job and stuff. I know cleaning is for ladies and all but I don’t think it’s really killing you to have to clean out the sink after you shave. I can’t even imagine what driving a Hyundai might to do your manhood. Or worse…a Yaris. Good thing Dodge is there to help you figure out your sexual identity. I mean, thank god.
-Melissa
ps viva beards
Dove ad for men: all the rites of passage end up as pressure
The new Dove ad for men’s products runs through all the various rites of passage in the white, heterosexual male world, including having a girlfriend, getting married, having a bunch of kids, succeeding in your career. And then the guy ends up washing himself with Dove body wash in the shower.
At first I started yelling at the screen about how it was reinforcing so strongly the masculine stereotype, but then the awesome Jason, our Education Into Action intern, said “I liked it. It acknowledges that it’s hard to be a guy, with so many pressures.” Melissa thinks that only if you fulfill all the other manly expectations of your life can you reward yourself by using Dove body wash. And Sara thinks that you should remember to use the body wash if you’re going to accomplish all the other typical male rites of passage. What did you think?
-Jennifer
according to the superbowl, white americans love the following things
- beer
- chips
- candy bars
- white girls (and the tackling of white girls and women–euphemistic or not)
- not wearing pants
if you are not a white american, you might hope to become one by doing the following things:
- drinking beer
- eating chips
- eating candy
- tackling hot ladies (euphemistically or not)
pants are optional (unless you’re dockers, in which case you’re defining masculinity by pants and you’d better put them on).
-melissa