Saturday, October 17, 2009

The Norm Against The Radical


As we grow up, we are constantly taught by society what is the ideal and what is out of norm. For instance, our society considers a marriage a special event in which a male and a female bond their lives together until death departs them from one another. Realistically, as time progresses, this norm seems hard to perceive within society. If now we hear things such as getting married for financial stability, for a personal well-being, homosexual marriages, or just living together with your significant other with no legal or religious bond as being radical. Surprisingly, the acts of most members of our society reflect these radical behaviors.
Many authors had written many literary works having in mind this idea and reflecting it on their work. For example, Oscar Wilde wrote a book called An Ideal Husband, in which the reader is able to see how marriage is not as it is portrayed by society. Wilde’s text supports the ideas that Tennessee Williams transmit in his book called Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, in which he clearly portrays what is considered to be as the radical romance. Using Wilde’s text to support Williams’ understanding of radical romance, it could be analyzed how society constructs the “ideal“ behavior, what characterizes a radical relationship, how radical reforms are being put into practice, and the price to be part of a society based on traditional values. Overall, we are able to see how various behaviors are constantly being acted by members of society and are considered radical within the marital norms.
The wedding of a man and woman that are bonding their lives together because of the passionate and eternal love they feel for one another seems as the norm within society. For many years, this concept of marriage has been carried, but its practicality has diminished throughout time. Although this norm lacks of its practicality, society enforces it since various things such as religion or traditional values play a strong role within society. For instance, Williams portrays this norm in act one when Brick, a man who lost a very close male friend, and Margaret, the wife of Brick, have a conversation regarding their relationship and she states the following, “ You married me early that summer we graduated out of Ole Miss, and we were happy, weren’t we, we were blissful yes, hit heaven together ev’ry time that we love!” (Williams 60) Wilde’s idea, similar to Williams’ idea, was also portrayed when Lady Chitern, a radical woman of the Victorian era, at the beginning says that her husband is the head of the house and that it is her responsibility to help him both his private and public life (Wilde 16). These two examples demonstrate how traditional values such as the wife being the auxiliary of the husband and how “true love” helps them reach heaven (religiously speaking, a place with no harm, violence or sin). Also, we are able to see how marriage implies that the man is in power than the woman. For instance, Chris Barker, author of Cultural Studies, mentions the following, “ That is, women have subject positions constructed for them that the place them in the patriarchal work of domesticity and beautification…” (Barker 314). It could be analyzed how society implies a norm based on religious or traditional values, but many individual live based on radical marital norms.
Understanding better what society implies as the norm, it could be analyzed that everything contrary of the norm is radical. For example, romance between two individuals of the same sex is considered radical. Williams includes this radical phenomena in his text when Margaret and Brick are having a conversation regarding Brick’s and Skipper’s close relationship, when Margaret said, “ Skipper! Stop lovin’ my husband or tell him he’s got to let you admit it to him!” (Williams 60). After this statement, Margaret mentioned that Skipper slept with her that night to prove to her that he was not gay. As we could see, society considers love between a man and a woman as normal, but love between two men or two women as radical. “ That is, identification with one set of norms, say heterosexuality, repudiates another, say homosexuality.”, as Barker explains how our society idealizes heterosexuality over homosexuality (Barker 299). Also Colton Lawrence, producer of the film The Sex Movie, he addresses the issue of homosexuality as one of the protagonist mentions the following, “ Being straight is normal, being a fag is against God’s will!” (The Sex Movie). Overall, it could be analyzed how society considers a homosexual romance as radical by the influences of religious and traditional values.
Another example of a radical relationship is getting married with someone without loving them. Many of us had been taught that the foundation of a good matrimony is a strong, solid, and unconditional love. Unfortunately, the acts within society demonstrate the contrary. For instance, Wilde addresses this issue in his book when he explains on how Mrs. Cheveley, the villain of the play, tries to seduce Sir Robert to secure her financial investments (Wilde 20). She did not care if she destroyed Sir Robert’s conjugal bliss to satisfy her selfish self with the fortune that Sir Robert possessed. David Masci, author of Future of Marriage, mentioned, “It gave women economic security and helped men financially, through dowry payments and socially by connecting them to another family.”(Masci) Many don’t see marriage as the union of two individuals in love, but a way to gain financial stability or to resolve a problem such as legal problems or personal issues.
Although the examples given above as many other behaviors seem radical, but are constantly acted by members of society. For instance, Bret Easton Ellis, author of The Rules of Attraction, explains on the text how a young man by the name of Sean has a romantic relationship with Lauren, a Camden student which is identified as promiscuous, but has sexual encounters with Paul, a bisexual young man that is completely in love with Sean. Also, in Ellis’ text, Lauren has a relationship with Sean, but she hopes for her “ex-boyfriend” to return from Europe and to re-initiate a romantic relationship with him. We could see the lack of love between Sean and Lauren when she thinks the following meanwhile in bed with Sean, “ Why is it that Victor’s seeing Jaime? I like him more than she likes him.” (Ellis. 203) It could be analyzed how these characters built a relationship based on lies and selfishness but not love, unfortunately portraying the reality of many individuals that are involve in “loveless” relationships. Many people may be in a relationship and apparently be living by the norm, but are part of a radical relationship.
Although many live a life contrary to the norms established by society, they want to remain part of society and not be ostracized from it. For instance, many individuals decide to get married knowing that there is no love between them. We are able to see this on the screenplay Brokeback Mountain, written by Dianna Ossana and Larry McMurtry, when two men that have a strong romantic relationship, but get married with women so their relationship could not be revealed to society. They decided to live a life contrary of their feelings just to prevent stigma and discrimination from society (Brokeback Mountain). Barker mentioned the following, “ Instead men need to find new ways of being men, or, rather, new ways to be human that bestow masculinity as a side-effect of doing and living a manner that brings respect, esteem and self-worth.” (Barker 306) Overall, the bases of a stable matrimony had changed into radical event, society admires individuals that live according to what religion and traditions value and consider as the norm.
Although we are taught by society to live according to the norms, but many live a radical life. It is interesting to see how society is influenced and embraces religious and traditional values, but few put these values into practice. We are taught that such things as homosexual marriages or getting married for financial or personal benefits as something radical since it is contrary of our social norms. Also, we frequently see how many involve in “radical” relationships and how things such as literature and the media portray these kind of radical reforms. Although many live a radical life, they are not willing to be ostracized and stigmatized from society, therefore live a life based on lies. Overall, our society is far from following what is considered as the ideal or the norm, therefore our behaviors makes our society a radical society rather than a religious and traditional valued society.
 
 
Works Cited
Barker, Chris. Cultural Studies. 3rd ed. California: SAGE Publications Inc., 2008
Brokeback Mountain. Dir. Ang Lee. Perf. Heath Ledger, Jake Gyllenhaal, Linda Cardellini, and Anna Ferris. Paramount Picture, 2005.
Ellis, Easton Bret. The Rules of Attraction. New York: A Division of Random House, Inc., 1978
Masci, David. Future of marriage. May 7. 2004. CQ Researcher, 14, 397-420. October 14, 2009, <http://library.cqpress.com.libproxy.csun.edu>
The Sex Movie. Dir. Colton Lawrence. Perf. Michelle Mosley, Matthew Tyler, Mike Fallen, and Eleese Longino. Argentic Pictures, 2007.
Wilde, Oscar. An Ideal Husband. New York: Dover Publications, 2001.
William, Tennessee. Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. New York: A New Directions Book, 2004

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