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Title: The smell of burning ants Rating: 2.6 out of 4 Reference: Director & producer: Jay Rosenblatt. Library of Congress subjects: Boys—Psychology Socialization Gender identity
Reviews and Numerical Ratings 3 Could use in classes on socialization, gender identity, or culture. Its strengths are that it aptly portrays how different agents of socialization - family, environment, peers, religious affiliation - all contribute to one’s definition of “self”. Another strength is the use of metaphoric language, which is sophisticated and would appeal to 3rd & 4th year students. For a 2nd year group, this video would need lots of classroom work, especially because of a scene that appears to be rape, violent scenes amongst the children, and the difficulty of the language. Jennifer Lewis-Phillips (undergraduate) 4 Very disturbing. I cannot finish watching this long enough to give it a score...Ok, I tried it again. This is still a very difficult video to watch but it is an amazing examination of socialization, gender, family relations, & childhood. Makes connections between masculinity, oppression, power in ways not common in sociological analyses. Riley Olstead 3.5 Captures the idea of childhood as a series of violations, of an ominous boy’s culture. Extremely intense, with a horrid animal torture scene. Rebecca found the video slow at times and thought that the black & white images might bore students. Kathy felt that these images & use of slow motion especially evoked childhood. Lecture topic: masculinity. Kathy Bischoping & Rebecca Raby 4 Quite intense & gripping. A critical look at the assumption that sexism is the oppression of women by men who are condescending without cause. Shows how expectations of boys to perform and never falter in others’ eyes are causally linked to domination & sexism by adult males. Doesn’t force information/theory down viewers’ throats, but leaves much to viewer’s interpretations. Captures the imagination, uninterruptedly, though use of black & white pictures, different speeds & blurring of images, the crackling noises of ants, observations of insect survival (analogous to the boy’s), and a monotone narrator. A danger is that this could be read as a justification of male aggression, but for students have learned some basic theories about gender, this will further their understanding of how seemingly opposing groups/forces are interconnected. Ellen Chang 1 To show this video to your class would definitely
be a waste of both professors’ and students’ time: please
don’t use it. Although the topic of socialization and how cruel
boys can be will initiate numerous discussions in lectures and tutorials,
nonetheless professors and TAs should look for another documentary to
show their students. This video is not recommended for upper year students,
since the majority of advanced students will find this video irrelevant
and infantile, due to the laughable usage of metaphors. There must be
another way to present these topics. Minh Hoang (undergraduate)
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