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What We Show Makes a Difference
By Suzan Kuc, Resident Director, St John's University
Film often plays a pivotal role in student programming. As student affairs professionals, we show movies as stress relievers or to initiate gatherings of students. In addition to films, those of us who work in metropolitan areas often have trips to the theater. Working as a professional for a metropolitan University in New York City, two to three trips to Broadway plays are coordinated weekly. These events are fun and exciting for students and are often enjoyable for us as well. I have enjoyed every experience when serving as a chaperone for these trips. However, after we attend these events, we rarely analyze the film or show in detail. Instead we tend to solely acknowledge the surface value of these shows or films and that could lead to a disservice to our students.
Society uses film, media, theater, etc. to convey messages to the masses. These messages are usually subtle, but sometimes they are strikingly obvious. Regardless to how they are identified the media conveys messages reinforcing the ideals of those in power. In sociology this is referred to as hegemonic thought. Webster dictionary defines hegemonic as “the social, cultural, ideological, or economic influence exerted by a dominant group.” This is problematic because the dominant group is not the majority group, and the dominant group is not reflective of our diverse society. Yet, our beliefs align too often with hegemonic thought. They tell us what our roles are in reference to gender, race, ethnicity, and economic status. Our societal positions are shaped by the standards of the dominant group of society and the dominant group is such a narrow and small sect of the population that almost no one fits the mold. However, we still subscribe to hegemonic thought.
Recently, I chaperoned an excursion to the new hit Disney Broadway Musical, The Little Mermaid. As I watched the play, I realized the message it was sending. The show was almost identical to the movie, which I must have seen over 40 times, but ironically this was the first time I ever thought about what I was watching. The plot is centered on a mermaid, Ariel, who falls in love with a human prince. She risks her life to become human to win her true love. However, things go wrong and she has to be saved from the wicked sea witch. She is saved in the play by her father and in the movie by both her father and the prince. Both depict men saving the woman. Lastly, she becomes a human because her father makes her one and we witness the age old tradition of marriage where the woman is given as property from one man, the father, to the new man, her husband.
This play so clearly exemplifies the gender roles in society. We should not be fooled because Ariel seems so headstrong and independent. At the end she fulfills her role as a woman and the men fulfill their roles as men. The play tells women they need to be married and it is acceptable or even expected, they do anything for romantic love. These ideas do not teach independence or autonomy. These ideas do not empower our female students, and they do not empower our male students either. We are teaching our students hegemonic thoughts which are reinforcing inequalities.
The point of this article is not to recommend we show one thing over the other, but rather to encourage thoughts about what we introduce to our student population. The Little Mermaid is a fun tale that can be used as a tool to discuss gender and inequality. So can many other films and plays. These can be used as tools to raise consciousness and to inspire students to take action towards the betterment of equality issues in our society. But if we ignore the messages being sent then we are implicitly agreeing.
About the Author
Suzan Kuc is Resident Director at St John's University. She began her work in Residence Life at the University of California Washington Center. From there she worked at Regis University serving as a Residence Life Coordinator for one year. She has presented on issues such as leadership and mental health regionally and nationally.