bashoGWSS1

In the film “Cusp� the main character is 13 year old Alice. Every day she sees how gender can influence power. Alice sees how the boys of her class have more opportunities that the girls. In the film Alice see the boys of her class get picked by the teacher and yet they are more respected than the girls. At home Alice sees how dependent her mother and mothers friend are on men. She is picked on by her brother, and then gets blamed by her mother. In Alice’s environment she is taught that men have more power and women should depend on men. Even on the streets she sees how men are very controlling of the women in the film. I think the biggest factor in Alice’s life is the characters that are part of her life. Each character is never just a child and each adult is never just an adult, they are always acting an age that benefits them. They use age as a power tool which plays a huge part in the film as well as in Alice’s life. Alice not only has to deal with being a female and being taught that it’s a male based world, but she also has to deal with her mother, her mother’s friend, and the girls at school. The only people Alice has to look up to is her mother and her mother’s friend because they are older and they have been the only people in her life. Unfortunately for Alice, they are extremely bad role models and perpetuate the idea that men are more powerful than women and women are to be dependent on men. With all the restraints she is taught, Alice will have a very difficult time in expressing who she really is because it could go against her family and friends. She does not know how to act in a different way, because of the restraints from family, friends, and society.