A powerful myth.A goddess of life giving nature, a suprahuman embodiment of the creative forces of the universe. Astarte was a lover and destroyer.Seductive and violent. She was a bestower of life and death.Health and sickness. This contradictory Near Eastern deity gave herself freely to all men, but was “owned” by none. Was she the patron goddess of feminism? aaa
Dr. Alexander ( 1800?):"The mythology of all antiquity is full of female as well as male deities. The Hebrews and many of their neighbouring nations, worshipped the Queen of Heaven; the Phoenicians adored Astarte; the Scythians, Apia; and the Scandinavians, Frigga, the consort of Odin. Wherever female deities have obtained a place in the religion of a people, it is a sign that women are of some consequence; for we find in those modern nations where the women are held in the most despicable light, that even their deities are all of the masculine gender". In other words, to achieve a healthy society - something more is needed than "Votes for women", "Equal pay" and so on. For achieving a healthy society there is only one adequate answer; and that answer is: - a return to the Cult of the Goddess....Read More:http://www.fellowshipofisis.com/religionofgoddess.html click on image
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Among the psychologists who have dealt with the myth of Astarte, or Ishtar, was Erich Neumann, a disciple of Jung who was in the mythological figures of the Astarte-Aphrodite myth personifications of aspects of the human personality. They are divided by sex with the ego taking the male roles, the unconscious the female. Usually, male and female are in conflict, but not always. The double nature of Astarte, lover and destroyer, would then be an expression of man’s feelings about his own irrational instincts and emotions which threaten to disintegrate his orderly and logical male world but which come irresistibly to tempt and fascinate him in the form of dreams, violent emotions, sexual desire and uncontrollable fantasies.
---The term women in refrigerators was coined by Gail Simone in 1999 to describe a plot device that she noticed as being particularly common in superhero comics. This plot device uses the victimization of a female character in order to advance the dramatic arc of a male character. The female character may be raped, killed, de-powered or otherwise injured; the male character then takes over the story and uses her tragedy as motivation, usually for broody manpain, violent revenge, or simply to become the best hero he can be. ---Read More:http://fanlore.org/wiki/Women_In_Refrigerators image:http://dc.wikia.com/wiki/Category:Alexandra_DeWitt_%28New_Earth%29/Images
In the Astarte stories, according to Neumann, ego consciousness is struggling to free itself from this encroaching matriarchal unconsciousness.Rather than succumb to the “mother” , the young lover, who stands for the emerging ego, tries to resist.He flees, he fights; he refuses. But he is not strong enough to win total independence, so he ends up offering what he tried to withhold: the phallus. Such is the meaning behind the stories of Attis, Narcissus, and of course Adonis-Tammuz.
Velma Dinkley. ---If the Women's Liberation movement of the seventies brought about the appearance of rational, clear-thinking female characters in cartoons, the backlash of the eighties removed them. When looking at the cast of characters on "The Smurfs," one immediately sees a move away from the prominent female leads which characterized the 1970's cartoons. Although there are one hundred male Smurfs (only about twenty or twenty-five are ever developed as characters), there is only one Smurfette. The "kids-with-a-comic-sidekick" cartoons had an equal fifty-fifty gender ratio, and in those that did not (such as "Captain Caveman"), there was a majority of female characters. In "The Smurfs," however, the female-to-male ratio is 1 to 100.---Read More:http://www.nateborofsky.com/smurf.html image:http://www.everseradio.com/top-five-brainynerdy-teen-girls-of-tv/
aThe psychological interpretation has been disputed by many, but in its emphasis on the subjective character of the “experience”, it hits a nerve. The workings of the male imagination might well produce this distorted cartoon of the female of the species, one more deadly than the male. She lures you, seduces you, then breaks you like the giant whom Astarte is said to have reduced to a dwarf. Astarte, in other words could be a composite portrait of Woman as seen through the nervous and longing eyes of Man- tantalizing, elusive, destructive, but inescapable.
Ruth St. Denis. ---Ishtar’s temples existed throughout Babylonia, and her cult following was, indeed, strong. Every woman in Babylon believed that it was her sacred duty to honor Ishtar by sitting in one of her temples, at least one time during her lifetime, and making love with the first man who cast some coins in her lap. Ishtar had a destructive side to her as well, and the Assyrians looked upon her as their Goddess of Hunting and War. It was in this aspect that she carried a bow, a quiver of arrows and a sword. Ishtar also had two masculine aspects, Athtar and Astar. Since they were masculine, these aspects of the Goddess were actually considered to be Gods. In Babylonia, Ishtar had another aspect, Ishtar of Erech, who was a Goddess of Venus, the Evening Star. Although historians are not completely certain, they believe that Ishtar may actually have also had two addtional aspects, one male and one female, that were identified with the Morning Star. The male was known as Ishtar of Akkad, while the female was known as Annunit of Akkad. ---Read More:http://www.angelfire.com/journal/ofapoet/astarte.html image:http://www.flickr.com/photos/nypl/3110033541/
The interpretation takes care of the male point of view, but Astarte was first and foremost a goddess of women. Her representation to women is perhaps more interesting than what she meant to men. She is the morning and evening star, the waxing and waning moon. Unlike other goddesses of the Near East, she owes her power to no male god-consort; it was she who predicted and brought about the great flood of Babylonian mythology and then came out in a moon boat, an ark, to save man and beast. But, she has a human form and is given human emotions, which can be used for both good and ill: cold-blooded sexual attraction to prove her power. However, when a woman sat in the temple of Astarte, she did so impersonally. The man she slept with was not chosen by her. And at the end of the sex act he was forgotten and the money went to the goddess. She seemed to be acknowledging a principle of love independent of any particular man or any material gain. The specifically human emotions, embodied in Astarte, were therefore raised to a higher level, given a religious significance and transformed.
Public relations +: daniel craig in drag for international women's day.---By generally referring to all the Bond films, but more specifically focusing on the recent James Bond film Casino Royale, the depiction of women as weak, amoral objects of desire perpetuates negative stereotypes of women and nature in society. ...The term “Bond Girl”, used to describe the female co-stars, is perhaps the most sexist and belittling detail of the entire series. By referring to the women as “girls”, the term suggests their inferiority to the character of James Bond, and the man playing James Bond as well. Their presence as mere “eye candy” throughout the films is also maintained by this term. In conjunction with this term, the names of the women in the films are equally degrading. With classic examples such as Pussy Galore or Molly Goodhead just to name a few, the superiority of James Bond over these women implied by these degrading names can be linked to the symbolism
the women’s names is degrading to women, and is a form of patriarchy which is both socially and culturally destructive. Read more at Suite101: The Sexism Inherent in James Bond Films: How the Hero Perpetuates Negative Female Stereotypes in Society | Suite101.com http://www.suite101.com/content/the-sexist-nature-of-james-bond-a132244#ixzz1KJDeesLf
The concept would mean that women would stay chaste, virgin, in spite of all her lovers. A virgin being not biological but “free” and “unconditioned” subject to no man and her power not being derived from a male consort among the gods. Obviously, the myth has many meanings; but the general portrayal of women in male dominate popular culture contains little that would invoke Astarte in spirit or mind. There are deformative , distorted, inverted and non-palpable archetypes that are a legitimate source of feminist critique and even rage; a kind of metaphorical genital mutilation to the rough instruments of male standards and values.
Manic Pixie dream girl:The MPDG is described as "...that bubbly, shallow cinematic creature that exists solely in the fevered imaginations of sensitive writer-directors to teach broodingly soulful young men to embrace life and it's infinite mysteries and adventures." This is a problem. To continuously perpetuate the notion that women are only there as character foils. Even if they are the main character in cases like Ameliè (yes, I just called Ameliè a MPDG) Read More:http://halftheaudience.blogspot.com/2010/10/i-am-not-your-manic-pixie-dream-girl.html image:http://www.movieforum.com/features/festivals/tiff01/features/amelie1024x768.shtml
ADDENDUM:
Katha Pollitt:Contemporary shows are either essentially all-male, like “Garfield,” or are organized on what I call the Smurfette principle: a group of male buddies will be accented by a lone female, stereotypically defined. In the worst cartoons — the ones that blend seamlessly into the animated cereal commercials — the female is usually a little-sister type, a bunny in a pink dress and hair ribbons who tags along with the adventurous bears and badgers. But the Smurfette principle rules the more carefully made shows, too. Thus, Kanga, the only female in “Winnie-the-Pooh,” is a mother. Piggy, of “Muppet Babies,” is a pint-size version of Miss Piggy, the camp glamour queen of the Muppet movies. April, of the wildly popular “Teen-Age Mutant Ninja Turtles,” functions as a girl Friday to a quartet of male superheroes. The message is clear. Boys are the norm, girls the variation; boys are central, girls peripheral; boys are individuals, girls types. Boys define the group, its story and its code of values. Girls exist only in relation to boys. Read More:http://www.nytimes.com/1991/04/07/magazine/hers-the-smurfette-principle.html?pagewanted=2&src=pm a
---Manic Pixie Dream Girl:One film that’s been overlooked in the lists of MPDG classics is Along Came Polly (2004). There’s the formula: boring, straight-laced, heartbroken guy falls for an offbeat, artistic, adventurous woman who drags him out of his comfort zone. Hilarity, hijinks and true love ensue. This film is kinda redeemed by solid comedic acting (particularly on the part of Ben Stiller, who can’t help but be a whole lot funnier than the emo-dude characters in other such tales), but in many ways it exemplifies the MPDG trope. I remember this film in particular because I saw it in the theater with my boyfriend at the time. On our way home, he said to me, “You’re my Polly.” At that time, that felt nice and special. But now when I reflect on that moment, it’s no wonder to me why I broke up with him a few months later. I didn’t want to be his Polly.---Read More:http://quartermorning.tumblr.com/post/4188810605/confessions-of-a-recovering-manic-pixie-dream-girl
Read More: http://www.nateborofsky.com/smurf.html
Read More:http://www.salon.com/life/broadsheet/feature/2010/03/02/smurfette_principle
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Throughout the series, James Bond has sexual relations with new women in every film. This is analogous to the dominance of man over nature suggested by Sir Francis Bacon; he believed that the purpose of science was for man to dominate and control nature.
The ways in which Bond uses women to appease his own desires, and the ways in which he uses women as a means to an end (such as in Casino Royale when he seduces the wife of a criminal to simply gain knowledge about that criminal) reflects the simultaneous domination of women and nature in society….Read More:http://www.suite101.com/content/the-sexist-nature-of-james-bond-a132244
These actions by Bond can be equated to the ways in which men dominate nature and natural resources for their own gratification with little worry about the consequences.Perhaps the most glaring example of how the Bond films perpetuate the concept of oppression of women and nature in society is inherent in the concept of dualism, first theorized by the Greek theologian Pythagoras. According to the theory of dualism, all components associated with men, such as culture, are deemed superior than components associated with women, such as nature.
James Bond perpetuates this dualism by seducing women at will (as discussed earlier) and through his depiction as a suave, virtually indestructible man. Bond, armed with a gun or a laser-watch, is more powerful than any Soviet soldier or mobster hit-man.Likewise, Bond is calm and very rational in the face of danger. Juxtaposed to this are the women of James Bond films, who are depicted as emotional, constantly in need of rescue, and who are easily seduced by Bond.
In one particular scene of Casino Royale, Bond kills an African warlord with little hesitation or remorse. However, when “Bond Girl” Vesper Lynd bears witness to this she is overcome with emotion, which is shown when she sits in the shower fully clothed and crying.Read More:http://www.suite101.com/content/the-sexist-nature-of-james-bond-a132244
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