As we've finished reading Mumbo Jumbo, there were many very interesting aspects of it to discuss. One discussion that was really fun to talk about in class was the idea of gender in this novel. We touched a lot on this topic in class over the two panel presentation days, and there were a few specific points that especially interested me.
One thing that I am now kind of ashamed to admit is that I wasn't aware of the fact that none of the really significant characters in Mumbo Jumbo are female until it was brought up in class. I think part of the reason why I didn't notice is because a lot of really popular books and movies today are still the same way, with no significant female characters except maybe one for sex appeal and 'diversity.' But when I went back and thought about it, I realized the characters we spent the most time talking about in class, and who had the most depth and growth throughout the novel, were all male. The only female character who I can remember discussing thoroughly in class is Isis, and I don't think she counts because Reed didn't create her. You could argue that Reed is just trying to keep Mumbo Jumbo consistent with the time period it was set in, as women at that time would definitely not have been given the same opportunities or authority as Hinkle Von Vampton or Papa LaBas. However, I would argue that regardless of the time period, women still existed and made up half of the world's population, so it would've made more sense to see a few more of them in Reed's novel.
Looking at the few female characters that Reed did include in Mumbo Jumbo, one thing I noticed was how over-sexualized they were. I personally felt like Isis was way more sexualized than she needed to be for the sake of the novel. In addition, women who embraced or used their sexuality were portrayed negatively. For example, Earline's seduction of the conductor was heavily criticized by Reed, and the fact that she was possessed implies that Earline, or any woman, isn't 'supposed' to act that way. Despite the fact that the conductor had a whole family, it still seemed as if all the blame fell onto her.
Overall, I would rate Reed's representation of women throughout Mumbo Jumbo pretty low. However, I think there's something to be said about this. This over-sexualization and general underrepresentation of women in media has been a problem and is one that still exists today, which is clearly seen through Reed's work. It seems strange to me that Reed would think so negatively of feminism when Mumbo Jumbo is so full of racial commentary, but throughout history there have been plenty of instances of white feminists who ignore the ways that race affects people or are racist themselves, just as there are plenty of POC who are misogynistic or even racist towards other groups of people. Do you think Reed could be purposefully portraying women in an ill way to highlight this fact, or did he just fail to accurately represent gender in his works?
One thing that I am now kind of ashamed to admit is that I wasn't aware of the fact that none of the really significant characters in Mumbo Jumbo are female until it was brought up in class. I think part of the reason why I didn't notice is because a lot of really popular books and movies today are still the same way, with no significant female characters except maybe one for sex appeal and 'diversity.' But when I went back and thought about it, I realized the characters we spent the most time talking about in class, and who had the most depth and growth throughout the novel, were all male. The only female character who I can remember discussing thoroughly in class is Isis, and I don't think she counts because Reed didn't create her. You could argue that Reed is just trying to keep Mumbo Jumbo consistent with the time period it was set in, as women at that time would definitely not have been given the same opportunities or authority as Hinkle Von Vampton or Papa LaBas. However, I would argue that regardless of the time period, women still existed and made up half of the world's population, so it would've made more sense to see a few more of them in Reed's novel.
Looking at the few female characters that Reed did include in Mumbo Jumbo, one thing I noticed was how over-sexualized they were. I personally felt like Isis was way more sexualized than she needed to be for the sake of the novel. In addition, women who embraced or used their sexuality were portrayed negatively. For example, Earline's seduction of the conductor was heavily criticized by Reed, and the fact that she was possessed implies that Earline, or any woman, isn't 'supposed' to act that way. Despite the fact that the conductor had a whole family, it still seemed as if all the blame fell onto her.
Overall, I would rate Reed's representation of women throughout Mumbo Jumbo pretty low. However, I think there's something to be said about this. This over-sexualization and general underrepresentation of women in media has been a problem and is one that still exists today, which is clearly seen through Reed's work. It seems strange to me that Reed would think so negatively of feminism when Mumbo Jumbo is so full of racial commentary, but throughout history there have been plenty of instances of white feminists who ignore the ways that race affects people or are racist themselves, just as there are plenty of POC who are misogynistic or even racist towards other groups of people. Do you think Reed could be purposefully portraying women in an ill way to highlight this fact, or did he just fail to accurately represent gender in his works?
I find Reed's idea of Jes Grew to be incredibly thought-provoking, but I'm surprised that he never broadened its scope to include women's rights and queer rights movements. I'd always figured he'd generalize Jes Grew towards the end, with a couple of paragraphs discussing the similar cyclic, revolutionary change observable in those movements, but he never did.
ReplyDeleteI agree that throughout the book, black and white women are shunted into side roles and over-sexualized. Earline's possession of the driver feels gross to me because her body is being used in a pretty major way. In a way, the spirit is raping her, by forcing her body to have sex when Earline wouldn't want to. And while the seduction is narrated in a negative tone, Reed seems more worried about the driver than about Earline.
All this is to say that I think you've really hit the nail on the head here! Despite Reed's thesis applying very well to feminist issues, Reed's writing itself isn't feminist at all.
I have to agree, I didn't think about Reeds portrayal of women until it was brought up in panel presentations. The novel was full of so many things to talk about that I didn't notice it before. As we discussed in class I think Reed missed an opportunity when writing this book, he could have developed his female characters more.
ReplyDeleteI also have to admit that I didn't notice the lack of female representation before it was brought up in discussion during class. However, after discussion, I also noticed how few female characters there are in the book in general, and how negatively the few female characters are portrayed. I remember being a bit confused as to why Isis was so over-sexualized when I was first reading that section of the book, and now I see that she isn't the only female character that was over-sexualized in the book.
ReplyDeleteLike other people have mentioned, I didn't really notice how few well-developed women there were in Mumbo Jumbo until the panel presentations. I really like your point about how this under-representation of women has become normalized by the patriarchal society we live in. I think it was valiant of you to make a point for Reed about maintaining historical accuracy, but I really just think that he didn't feel a need to represent women well. I was pretty disturbed by his diminishing of women to objects of sexual desire. Reed really showed his indifference towards promoting feminism, which I found to be deeply discouraging.
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