13992793:safarisam said:
Well yeah, you’te Clearly not from here. Everett’s at 8’000 is why that lift is there in the first place, but you out of town errs don’t get that. Big Sky has been slowly replacing lifts for quite some time now. Swifty’s day will come.
Stick to skiing Utah.
I'm gonna thread-jack the shit out of this.
I read your essay about cyborgs and androgyny in Japanese pop culture (linked from your profile). You use The Major from Ghost in the Shell as an example of an androgynous character, no longer being in a biologically female body she adopts a more stereotypically masculine demeanor and style of dress and uses both male and female mannerisms to exert power.
However, I have seen several other essays arguing that her cyborg body actually makes her more female rather than androgynous, and arguing that it is an example of a separation of the concepts of biological gender and gender/sexual identity that was quite progressive for Japan at the time. These authors essentially point out that despite not having a biologically female body, The Major maintains a female identity, joking about her menstrual cycle (that she doesn't actually have) and giving a feminist perspective on gender politics. They also point out that she dates both men and women, which was a nuanced example of the separation between gender identity and sexual identity that was quite sophisticated for Japanese pop culture at the time.
Essentially, they argue, despite her lack of a biological need to be female, she identifies as female, and in fact is a progressive, liberated, feminist, and sex-positive hyper-female.
One thing to consider, was your essay based on the manga or the film? These authors were referencing the manga, and I'm not sure that the same could be argued from the 90's animated film alone (I don't recall her dating anyone in the film).
