Men and Mad Scenes (plus a FUN VIDEO)

I found the discussion in class last week about the portrayal of men and women in highly emotional states very interesting. As one of the few men in the class, I wanted to continue that discussion from a male perspective.

The discussion really revolved around women being portrayed as irrational beings when overcome with strong emotion, leading to the famous 'mad scenes' that are found throughout the operatic literature. It was the question of why men are not really shown to have the same kind of elaborate mad scenes that really captured my interest. Yes, we see men in opera, and other dramatic arts, succumb to strong emotions and act irrationally. However, the most common culprit behind such acts is an unbridled rage that causes a violent retaliation for some perceived wrong. Examples of this can be found in many operas, including Rigoletto arranging for the Duke's murder after the nobleman dishonored Gilda, or for Don Jose's murderous rage at the end of Carmen. However, this is not the same as the traditional woman's 'mad scene.' Those scenes tend to be brought upon by a crushing loss or sadness, and the reaction is a prolonged, tragic loss of reason. I believe a key reason that we do not find the same occurrence in male roles is the fact that sadness is usually a key contributor. Throughout history, it has been considered by society at large un-manly to be overly demonstrative of emotions such as sorrow. Men are supposed to "toughen up" and keep it pent up inside when facing the rest of the world. Thus, showing a complete melt-down as a result of such emotion is not a "manly" reaction to events. I believe this is a primary factor in why we do not see traditional 'mad scenes' given to the male characters. Perhaps as society moves towards an ever-increasing idea of equality among the genders, this may eventually change; however, I do not expect to see a masculine equivalent of the Ophelia mad scene in Hamlet for some time yet.

Now, for something completely different:

While passing time on Hulu the other day, I watched a recent episode of The Simpsons entitled "Stealing First Base". At approximately 10 mins. 30 secs. into the episode, Homer takes Bart to the movies to watch Itchy and Scratchy in 3D in order to forget a fiasco with a girl. (For those of you, if any, who do not know, Itchy and Scratcy is a very violent show that the Simpsons watch with a mouse that kills a cat in every imaginable, grotesque way). However, in this particular example, there is a parody of Koyannisquatsi with: "Koyannis-Scratchy: Death out of Balance". The episode can be found a the following link: http://www.hulu.com/watch/133207/the-simpsons-stealing-first-base#s-p1-so-i0. Again, it begins just after 10'30" into the episode. It's actually a very clever parody! (WARNING: INTENSE CARTOON VIOLENCE / GORE)