THE HOMECOMING Body politics

Body politics originally involved the fight against objectification of the female body, and violence against women and girls, and the campaign for reproductive rights for women. This form of body politics emphasized a womans power and authority over her own body Arguing that the laws and ethics governing commercial sex transactions were outdated, organizations of prostitutes argued for decriminalization of their work

The body's role in the maintenance of (and resistance to) the inequalities of gender, race, class, and sexuality was a keynote of the political, social, and intellectual movements of the 1960s and 1970s. They must decolonize their bodies and souls The 50s ideology about women being soft-spoken, true feminity, cosmetics. In the homecoming, Ruth exercises the right to use her own body as an object. Her body becomes the battleground of the family members but eventually she is the only one who decides, above her husband, the tribal leader, the pimp, and her sons. It marks the precursor of the postmodern culture whereby the image surpasses the essence in terms of power, that is, the image that Ruth gives, the vibration she creates in a room, as a feminine figure is more important than the woman she really is. Illusion, reality, social constructs of the feminine aspects. Shaped by society. Sexual identity. Antiperformative theories about gender ;and anti-essentialism. Implication of the female embodiment. The body as a site for both power and self-esteem. Charismatic persona and power eradiating from the female body as a presence, as an ambivalent object the sexual object, the exploitative object. The 50s : oral contraceptive pills invented, Barbie doll invented(cultural significance), advent of television(image) Post structuralist feminists: analysis of language to find how femininity is a social construct; femininity Behavioral traits that are considered feminine include gentleness, empathy, and sensitivity. The essential aspects of woman, repressed in patriarchy, are assumed to embody a more humane, moral mode of being that once brought to light, could help change society in beneficial directions. IN the homecoming, Pinter paints a world whereby a place devoid of female touch turns to bestiality and moral vacuum/vacuity. With, the introduction of a woman, Ruth, at the end there is more scope for sensitivity(the maternal bond) however the woman that comes back is not the traditional threefold female figure(mother, lover, wife), Jessie but the ex-nudist model who comes to impose her new ideology about female supremacy in business arena. The ubiquitous woman: she seems to be everywhere in the play omnipresent. Fetishism: The whole female body may be fetishized in order to counteract the male fear of sexual difference that is of castration. Erotic fetishism.

The Male Gaze as a feature of power asymmetry(unequal). In the homecoming, the woman is perceived as a sexual object, thus male gaze occurs. Male gaze expresses asymmetric power relationships. Male Gaze exists within the mind of the person who feels it on them. The practical implications of this statement reach far, inasmuch as it can be interpreted to the effect that perception supersedes actuality, that schism is actuality, that actuality is false, and that the interlocutor is the only real.

Max might not love women. His great fear for women; his disgust for Jessie, his always underscoring his patriarchal power, shows that he might never have been attracted to women. He would even tuck his sons in bed. His disgust for Ruth might be an expression of his jealousy for a woman overpowering his own men. His disgust for Ruth at first, who has robbed his of Teddy. Female subjugated to male power. Women as subservient beings. binary oppositions(male female, old - new) forces of containment and the ways hegemonic forces consolidate the status quo(jane eyre)

(The female) Your body is a battleground

the male gaze objectifies and subsequently commodifies women as something that can be bought and sold Forced feminization for the current generation has meant looking, rather than acting, in a certain prescribed way

Our bodies, our selves

Woman in Sexist Society: Studies in Power and Powerlessness (1971)

Read more: The Body - Politics Re-conceives The Body - Gender, Social, Feminist, Foucault, Woman, and Nature http://science.jrank.org/pages/8481/Body-Politics-ReConceives-Body.html#ixzz1SANNNNbT Perspectives : Marxist Power politics, Post-modernism study of image and language, Psychoanalysis, Feminism

Transgressive art refers to art forms that aim to transgress; i.e. to outrage or violate basic mores and sensibilities. Any art which by some is considered offensive because of its shock value. Transgressional works share some themes with art that deals with psychological dislocation and mental illness. Shock art is contemporary art that incorporates disturbing imagery, sound or scents to create a shocking experience. Shock value is the potential of an image, text, or other form of communication to provoke a reaction of disgust, shock, anger, fear, or similar negative emotions

These will tend to include the aesthetic, emotional and discriminatory ones. And if you've really shocked the audience, you may find yourself running out of moves. Soon you're playing the fire alarm, not the piano. There's extremity of form (Stravinsky, free verse, cubism) and there's extremity of subject matter. They don't necessarily go together, though they often have. In literature, Burroughs, Ballard, Hubert Selby Jr and their like were formal experimentalists as well as experiential extremists. Shock comes in and out of fashion but largely has two purposes. One is to kick against internalised rules and formal conventions. The other is to kick against externally imposed norms, such as censorship and social disapproval.

off-color humor is related to other forms of postmodern humor, such as the anti-joke. Shock humour is a style of comedy intended to shock the audience. Cringe comedy is a comedy genre that uses awkward and embarrassing situations to cause audiences to feel uneasy.

Vignette (literature), short, impressionistic scenes that focus on one moment or give a particular insight into a character, idea, or setting.

Language frequently gains a certain phonetic, rhythmical, almost musical quality, opening up a wide range of often comedic playfulness