Myths and heroes : how to limit the power of heroic visions

Tâche finale

Consigne : vous travaillez pour un musée et vous devez choisir une œuvre d’art pour l’affiche de la prochaine exposition : 'Visions stéréotypées des hommes'

        Good afternoon everyone! I’m the museum curator of the New Museum of Contemporary Art based here, in New York City and I’m honored to introduce you our new exhibition ; ‘Stereotyped Visions of Men’.

        This exhibition illustrates two different themes : « Myths and heroes » and « Places and forms of power » :

* The myth evokes the human condition. Its history is first of all, transmitted orally and is often embodied by a hero. A hero can be a fictional or real character who has marked tradition, history or daily life.

* Power is at the same time the source of political, social and personal integration and reveals tensions and conflicts within the group in different places. Power is exercised through a complex set of relationships that are experienced or accepted and it also implies counter-powers.

        The purpose of this exhibition is to discuss about the role of men and women in the 20th century society and also about gender equality.

        What we want to share is how do we limit the power of a heroic vision about men and how do we resist it ?

        That’s why I chose as a poster « The man with the golden gun ».

        As you can see, in the middle of the poster, there is James Bond incarnate by Roger Moore. He wears a black suit and holds a gun. Next to him, there are two women who have the same body forms such as a generous chest, a developed gluteal and a narrow waist. These women only wear a bikini. At the first plan, we can see an extremely long gold which is probably hold by James Bond.  Around them, we can discern some places which are destroyed and people who are fighting.

        I chose this poster because it shows a very stereotyped vision about men and women. In this vision, James Bond, the only man you can discern, embodies the heroism. He saves the world against bad people and has the best and most expensive weapon to be THE hero. At the same time, the women around him personifies the role of women which is here to be pretty, thin and saved by a man. However, in our current society and also in the 20th century society, men are not only heroes and women, not only poor creatures who needed to be saved. Men and women are, at the begging, both humans.  Men don’t need to be heroes, they can be whatever they want. They can be sensitive, gentle and even be saved by women.  Besides, these women can be heroes like Wonder Woman and, they too, can be whatever they want, but not necessarily thin and « pretty » like they are on the poster. In fact, everyone is pretty but in their own way.

        To limit the power of a heroic vision about men and to resist it, we should do more movies about women being the heroes. We should more talk about women who help the society as « fireman » or « policeman ». Besides, we should think again some words like professions to feminize them.

        Nowadays, women and men are not equals. It exists inequalities both for women and men. For instance, women earn less than a men but men cannot really take a vacation when they will become fathers. That’s why, in the developed countries, we should put both men and women, on an equal footing and so the less developed countries will continue this.

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