Antonio Sanchez Final Cultural Studies Final Exam 1. How is Gender a Floating signifier like race? n Stuart Hall!

s lecture "#ace $he Floating signifier% he ex&lains how the conce&t of race is something that has significance in our culture. For exam&le' if a &erson has dark skin in the (.S. man) assum&tions can *e made a*out the &erson' assum&tions change de&ending on the culture. n realit)' the color of ones skin has no &h)sical effect on a &erson. +ike race' gender is a floating signifier' the *elief that gender is a *ase for "gendered *eha,ior% is a c)cle that has re&eated self for man) )ears' -udith .utler calls it "&erformati,it).% /ales are ex&ected to act according to *eliefs a*out the male gender' same goes for women.

0. -ohn .erger writes' " /en act' 1omen a&&ear.% 2rawing on *oth the .erger Ch.3 from wa)s of seeing and the film killing us softl) 4' ex&lain what this means. .erger ex&lains that wa)s of seeing are wa)s of &utting la*els or meanings on things' these different ,iews &oint out the difference *etween a man!s stance of the world and a woman!s stance of the world. $hese ridiculous and une5ual ,iews of men and women ha,e *een ingrained in our societ) and it has *ecome the norm. 1omen are o*6ectified *) man therefore the) o*6ectif) themsel,es. 1hen one sees oneself as an o*6ect or as *eing ,iewed one cannot focus on contri*uting to the world. $his &attern causes men to kee& &ower and women to *e looked o,er as f the) ser,ed no other &ur&ose *ut to ser,e man. 3. 1hat does E,e Sedgwick mean *) the "axiomatic understanding of sexualit)?% how is

this understanding of sexualit) &ro*lematic? Axiomatic understanding of sexualit) means the un5uestiona*le *eliefs of how men and women should act according to societies standards. $hese un5uestiona*le *eliefs ha,e *een the cause of man) hate crimes. Sedgwick argues that )our "gender% is not a marker of truth for )our "sexualit).% f one de,iates from these "truths% or "*eliefs% the) are su*6ect to ,iolence and hate. Sedgwick ex&lains how we are not *orn man' woman' or heterosexual *ut we *ecome this wa). Her main argument is what is on the outside does not reflect what inside of a &erson. Assum&tions of how men and women should *eha,e themsel,es lea,e the stragglers of societal norms su*6ect to ,iolence. 4. (sing mage 1. 2escri*e' Signifiers' denotati,e? Connotati,e? n what contexts does this sign ha,e different meanings for different &eo&le? 1ords that are associate with the connotati,e meaning of the american flag are' #ed' white' *lue' America' and its geogra&hical location. $he denotati,e meaning *rings an insightful meaning' for exam&le when one sees the american flag one thinks a*out Americas &atriotism' work ethic' ,alues' &ride' histor) and li*ert). 2e&ending on which side of the s&ectrum )ou are on the American flag means man) different things' to some it means land of o&&ortunit) and others see America as an enem). 1hen some look at the American flag the) see a second chance and others see o&&ression. 7. -udith .utler argues that gender and sexualit) are "&erformati,e.% Ex&lain. -udith *utler sees a gender and sexualit) as something that has *een rehearsed. 1e are actors that make the scri&t through re&etition. She is a strong *elie,er in "the wa) )ou *eha,e' creates )our gender.% She sees the two roles in a theatrical sense. Gender is "a st)lized re&etition of acts . . . which are internall) discontinuous . . .8so that9 the a&&earance of su*stance is &recisel) that' a constructed identit)' a

&erformati,e accom&lishment which the mundane social audience' including the actors themsel,es' come to *elie,e and to &erform in the mode of *elief% :Gender Trouble;. <. =ame fi,e of the eight dominant ideas of culture. =a>,e realit)? the *elief that nature is se&arate from cultural context. m&lications that nature is sim&le and uncom&licated. =ature as /oral im&erati,e? "this is the wa) it should *e% the *elief that nature is not affected *) humans. =ature as Eden? @iew of &erfect landsca&es and whoe,er is e,il does not want to &reser,e it. @iew of a &aradise. $he &ro*lem is that is &aradise means different things to different &eo&le. =ature as Artifice? An idea suggesting that once we know nature and know what t has to *e like we can mold it. $he &ro*lem lies with nature not *eing natural *ut *eing sha&ed' for it to *e considered nature it must occur naturall). =ature as ,irtual realit)A Com&uters ca&a*le of creating ideal form of nature. Gi,es the idea that nature can *e controlled *) humans. B. 1hat is =aturalization? Sturgeon discusses se,eral /otifsC tro&es of naturalization in ad,ertising. 2iscuss one of these that are em*odied in image 0? "$hese ads exhi*it ,arious wa)s of using images of nature in connection with images of social stereot)&es' showing the u*i5uitous character of these &atterns in (.S. Culture.% : Sturgeon' 0B; $he stereot)&e in image two is that man is in control of nature and that nature needs man' not the other wa) around. D. Ex&lain how time and s&ace are interconnected conce&ts S&aceCtime *oth sociall) constructed' often used to control the masses. (sed to kee& order. "S&ace% or territories can lead &eo&le to *elie,e the) ha,e ownershi& when in

realit) the s&ace does not *elong to an)one. $ime is an illusion that makes &eo&le work faster. .oth conce&ts are illusions.