Orlando pt.2

    Orlando is now she. She learns that what she thought about woman when she was a man, are not quite right. In a way, Orlando enjoys to be female but feels very oppressed and powerless. She wants to be independent but finds it very hard to do so.
    Orlando is unique novel because it has two perspectives. Same person going through same problem, in this case, love, in different sex. Gender roles take most parts in our lives. How we should act, think, and react depends on the gender most of the time. I think Virginia attempted to express her own feelings toward her husband and Vita in this novel. She loves them both dearly but can not stay with them and devote to them. She must have been confused about her feelings since herself had two genders in her.
    Struggle over how she can not behave according to what her mind thinks.
Orlando could be an important message to those who draw significant lines between male and female. What gives us right to judge someone by gender?
  

Orlando Pt.1

        In Virginia Woolf's novel, Orlando, the main character, goes through sex change and experience 

different time of eras. It seems very important that the fact that Virginia was in a relationship with another woman names Vita. Throughout the book, Virginia portraits Vita as Orlando and talks about two genders in him/her. 

        The first three chapters are about Orlando as a beautiful young boy. He looks fresh and the Queen, who admires that youth, loves him dearly and gives him great fortune. With his good look, Orlando gets many woman by his side and live very freely. He seems very happy and flexible. 

        For some reason all the kings and queens we have been go over in class falls over obstacle called 'love.' Orlando tries to win Sasha's heart believing that she should be his just because he adores her. But  after Sasha's betrayal Orlando feels great depression and wanders how love works for woman.

      

Queen Elizabeth

 In class, we watched Queen Elizabeth, the first Queen of England.
It is an issue even now, when woman tries to gain political powers. For example, in Korea, for the first time in the history, female candidate showed up as president. Many medias and groups thinks it is wrong for woman to take over the country and rule the people.
So I can not imagine how hard it must have been for Elizabeth when she first became the Queen.
She became Queen just because she was in the loyal family. She lost many things, love, freedom...
But she struggled the most when people did not take her side because of what she was.
Her voice was easily hid because she was a woman. England wanted a King to look upon to. They tried to take advantage of the Queen and often make fun of her Queenship.
But Elizabeth ruled with heart. She could done it because she was a woman. She gave her heart and compassion not to man, but to England.
Throughout the movie, I was very proud to be a woman. I admired the courage and devotion of Elizabeth. She became the very first example of a strong woman.

Venus In Furs

 Venus in Furs is a novel about a man being a slave to a beautiful woman.
The meaning of 'power' takes very different parts for woman and man.
Man gets power with his wealth, strength and ability. While woman gets power with her beauty.
In this book, the main character, Saverin, adores goddess-like woman and willing to be a slave for her.
He wants to get punished by her and rejected by her. Through that he feels passion about love.
He goes nuts when Wanda, the Venus like woman, wears fur.
 Wanda is a widow. She wants happy life with her next future husband and wish it could be Saverin since she loves him. But instead she decided to play along for an year to see if Saverin is the right guy to marry. She gets surprised at first when Saverin wanted her to whip him and hit him and be cruel to him so he can beg her fro her love. But later she enjoys it with him and abuse him and treat him like a slave.
The ending of the novel is predictable. Wanda meets other man and abandons Saverin.

The real question about this book is this. How do man and woman use their powers when it comes to love? Who will win in the end?
Woman seek man who can satisfy her needs and love her unconditionally. Man, on the other hand, want obedient woman as a wife but when it comes to love, he needs someone who can fulfill his fantasy.

That woman, as nature has created her, and man at present is educating her, is man's enemy. She can only be his slave or his despot, but never his companion. This she can become only when she has the same rights as he and is his equal in education and work.

It is just that woman and man are very different that it is very difficult to satisfy both. One of them has to be obedient and willing to give all. 

The Lie Factory & Fear of a Black President

The Lie Factory

Politic is really not my thing. I never understood economics and politics when I learned them in high school. But as I grow older I realized I need to know what is going on and what benefits I can get from the politics. Since I am registered to vote for this year's election, I was very interested to read this article. But yet, I could not understand most of it....
I am assuming that what people hear now and want to see about politics are very fictional and politicians are trying to make that happen?


Fear of Black President

in 2008 election, I was counting votes as volunteer. And now,it is 2012 and I am waiting to vote myself in New York. Election policy and presidencies are different from country to country so I was surprised that we had to go to school on election day. In Korea, we do not go to school or work on election day. And also, formal president can not run again for the next term. Which is, i think, the reason why presidents give up easily and wait for the next president to fix the problems.
I really think it is reasonable to have a good president for many years without changing. I feel stable and safe about experienced president. I have not listened to all the speeches of candidates but have seen plenty of articles, slogans and movie clips about them.
During Obama's presidency, I could not imagine how hard it would have been for him to be the first black president. He was very wise and stayed in the middle of racial issues. I think it was very smart of him to not to take side of his own race because that will cause so much chaos. But at the same time he must have felt very sorry for those who believed that he will change everything about the racism.
We have to recognize that he is in very tough situation. Obama has to work twice as hard to be a respectable president by all people. I am sure that there must be many people out there who does not like him at all.
But I think this is a chance to break the stereotype on races. As a full Korean, I sometimes feel very uncomfortable when others try to fit me into stereotypes. In this case, Trayvon Martin was killed because of it. It must have been the hardest moment for the president to say things about this accident. I mean,,, what can he say? Even though he knows what to say he did not say it directly.

MacBeth

In class, we watched revised version of Macbeth.
In the play there no King but Generals.

I have read Macbeth when I was in highschool, so I could not remember the full story when I watched the film. And seeing the film did not help me at all. It was very strange to see people using old english when they dressed so modern. I wished the director also changed the speech.
What scared me the most was the three nurses. They were acting so weird in the movie that it was not pleasant. (In the original play, they are witches.)
But I think the modern version made sense anyways. After all, man hungers power even though they seem naive. Once he tasted the power, the more he seeks. He became bloodthirsty and cruel to be more powerful. He wants the power to himself. He doubted what three nurses said and killed everyone that seems to be in his way. He ended up getting killed. His wife, who persuaded him to kill the king later on kills herself from guilt.
Macbeth is an example of a bad king. He did not think of the responsibilities but only about his own benefit. He was too busy keeping his throne. He was not happy at all thorough out the entire play. He grew more anxious as he gained more power.

Royster, Francesca T. Becoming Cleopatra: The Shifting Image of An Icon

                 When I hear the name Cleopatra, the image of a very beautiful dressed in gold with heavy make up pops up in my mind. Of course I have never seen her before, but she has been described in various fields. There are more than 2 movies of Cleopatra. And the actress that plays the role of Cleopatra looks rather proud to have that part. What does this ancient woman has that is so admired and praised by females throughout the centuries?
                  Before thinking into that topic, it seems important to actually know about Cleopatra herself. Going back to the very basic question. What is her origin? Movies from 1900s, portraits her as caucasian, which is not possible because she is from Egypt. While reading this article, I realized that I, too, pictured Cleopatra as white. Cleopatra takes such an important part of the history that debating over her origin seems very reasonable. I would be pretty upset if Japanese or Chinese people argue over our ancestors. And what makes this problem worse is that it has to do with race, which is the most sensitive issue.
                 Why do we obsess with Cleopatra anyways? Nobody really knows what she looked like or dressed up. But there are costumes and makeup tutorials of Cleopatra all over the market. It seems to me that we take her too seriously and somehow make own image of her. Exaggerate in a way. She must be pretty smart and cunning and seductive since she used it to control over man. But there are no evidences that says that she was extremely beautiful and sexy. Maybe that is what we think. We think woman can win over man by seducing them. With heavy makeup and provocative outfits....
                 There are many artists that uses the name Cleopatra to represent themselves. For example, Jazz Cleopatra. Why are we so obsessed with ancient heroin that we know not much about? Why can't we make our own term and be unique? I think woman should create their own icon. Not borrowing names from some figure that we do not even know where she is from.
                 Conclusion.... Is it really hard to be 'Powerful Queen' these days?