The Librarian: Quest for the Spear— - PowerPoint Presentation

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The Librarian: Quest for the Spear—

Flynn

Carsen

Qualifications: 22 academic degrees, love of books. “I know the Dewey Decimal System, Library of Congress, research paper orthodoxy, web searching. I can set up an RSS feed.” Job Responsibilities: Protect and preserve historical/magical objects, travel around the world to find treasure, save the world While he is more brains than brawn, his appearance (see picture) likens him to Indiana Jones. At one point, he is able to wield the Sword in the Stone, which also associates him with the King Arthur legend. Since both Arthur and Indiana are role models for young boys, these comparisons emphasize Carsen’s masculinity and hero status. As Flynn becomes more comfortable in his job and its dangers, he begins to embody the more masculine traits of assertiveness and courageous. Where he was terrified to jump out of an airplane in the beginning, at the end he is able to take on a group of burly bad guys with only his fists.----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------The Mummy—Evelyn CarnahanQualifications: “I can read and write Ancient Egyptian, decipher hieroglyphics and hieratics . . . I am the only person who within a thousand miles who can properly code and catalogue this library.” Also, her parents’ financial legacy.Job Responsibilities: Shelving books, selling her brother’s “worthless trinkets” to the curator The first shot of Evelyn is when she is standing on a very tall ladder shelving books, her hair pulled back and glasses perched on her nose, looking every bit like the dowdy spinster many envision librarians to be.Evelyn’s saucy intelligence and book smarts are often pitted against the brash, He-Man behavior of hero Rick O’Connell. Yet, like Marian, she doesn’t “melt” under his charms. Also like Marian, Evelyn makes a transition from bespectacled spinster to sexy woman only when outside of the library and in relation to her romance with Rick. However, these experiences seem to make her more of a damsel in distress than a daring adventuress, like Flynn.

The Music Man—Marian “the Librarian” Paroo Qualifications: Love of reading; ubious relationship with old miser who gave the town the library, but left the books to her Job Responsibilities: Shelve and distribute books, oppose censorship, reader advisory, research, Shhh-ing Librarians are expected to be demure. Harold Hill upholds this stereotype when he sings, “The civilized world accepts a unforgivable sin / Any talking out loud with any librarian.” Marian’s “standards” regarding men are formed out of her “Irish imagination, Iowa stubbornness, and library full of books.” According to Seale (2008), this song conveys several popular librarian stereotypes, including asexuality and being more wrapped up in books than real life.The romantic subplot humanizes Marian and allows her to finally become a part of her community, thereby suggesting that being a librarian has limited her social and moral significance. Despite these above images, Marian’s keen intelligence and research skills make her the only person to see through Hill’s con.----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------The Shawshank Redemption—Andy DufresneQualifications: Knowledge and love of books, identification as an “educated man” by prison Standards, “good with numbers”Job Responsibilities: Shelve and distribute books, cataloguing, financial planning, library administration, tutoring, tax preparation Before being appointed to the job, Andy fulfills the stereotype of the shy, know-it-all librarian. Dickinson (2003) notes that the most common male librarian stereotype is being effeminate (p. 105). Andy’s mild-mannered and timid nature only further set him apart from other male characters, nor does he take part in “masculine” activities. Unlike Marian, who seems limited by her position, Andy’s job affords him more power than he would normally have had. Despite financial constraints, he manages to helped countless convicts to get their GEDs and develop vocational skills, something that wasn’t available before. The library helps him too by preventing “institutionalization.”

Spinsters and Scholars: The Gendered Librarian in Hollywood

From

The Music Man

to Party Girl, Hollywood has been a primary player in creating and promoting librarian stereotypes. Usually cast as a meek, eyeglass-wearing, know-it-all (and spinster), this image has been a constant source of concern for the field. Yet, while many scholars continue to debate the positive or negative aspects of the movie librarian, few have considered how these images differ between male and female portrayals. This poster will take just such an approach by comparing and contrasting the male and female librarian in various movies. I will then consider what these media portrayals could mean for the “real life” library science field, especially considering the gap between male and female librarians.

INTRODUCTION

LITERATURE REVIEW

THE STEREOTYPICAL LIBRARIAN

THE ACTION ADVENTURE LIBRARIAN

WHAT DOES THIS MEAN FOR “REAL LIFE”?

What are the gender data in library science?Libraries and library schools are still dominated 8-1 by women (U.S., 2011). However, men encompass a majority of information technology employees, while women are more likely to work in reference or circulation.How might film portrayals impact current and future librarians?As Grimes (1994) observes, “the importance of image lies not so much in its truth as in its consequences” (p. 3). While Marian, Andy, Flynn, and Evelyn may present be the same socially awkward, book smart librarian at their core, there are still subtle differences based on their gender. For women, the librarian character has remains relatively the same regardless of the film’s genre or release date. For men, however, there seems to be more of a shift towards portraying library science as a “cool”, even powerful profession. Could this be an effective means of drawing more men to the field though?A more in-depth study needs to be conducted to determine just how “consequential” the movie librarian stereotype is. My next step in this research project will thus be to create an online survey incorporating clips from the movies discussed and their impact on participants’ attitudes.

References

DaCosta, M. (Producer & Director). (1961). The Music Man [Film]. Burbank, CA: Warner Home Video Inc.Darabont, F. (Writer & Director). (1994). The Shawshank Redemption [Film]. Burbank, CA: Castle Rock Entertainment.Dickinson, T. (2003). Looking at the Male Librarian Stereotype. Reference Librarian, 37(78), 97-110.Grimes, D.J. (1994). Marian the Librarian—The Truth behind the Image. In Discovering Librarians: Profiles of a Profession (p. 3-11). Chicago: ALA.Seale, M. (2008). Old Maids, Policeman, and Social Rejects: Mass Media Representations and Public Perceptions of Librarians. Electronic Journal of Academic and Special Librarianship, 9(1).Seidl, A. (Writer & Director). (2007). The Hollywood Librarian: A Look at Librarians Through Film [Film]. Northampton, MA: Media Education Foundation.Sommers, S. (Writer & Director). (1999). The Mummy [Film]. Los Angeles: Universal Studios.Tevis, R., & B. Tevis. (2005). The Image of Librarians in Cinema, 1917-1999. Jefferson, NC: McFarland.U.S. Department for Professional Employees. (2011). Library Workers: Facts & Figures. Retrieved from http://dpeaflcio.org/ wp-content/uploads/Library-Workers-2011.pdf.Walker, S., & Lawson, V. L. (1993). The Librarian Stereotype and the Movies. MC Journal: The Journal of Academic Media Librarianship, 1(1), 16-28. Winther, P. (Director). (2004). The Librarian: Quest for the Spear [Film]. Burbank, CA: Warner Home Video Inc.

The bookish, bad-tempered librarian has been a stock character in film and television since the silent film era.

Tevis and Tevis’ (2005) examination of American films from 1917-1999 found that the librarian stereotype has remained unchanged in the past century.Seale (2008) suggests that media presentations can be broken down into five categories: (1) “old maid librarian”, (2) “policeman librarian”, (3) “librarian as parody”, (4) “inept librarian”, and (5) “hero/ine librarian”. While not entirely positive or negative, they do act as symbols by which the public creates their perception of library workers.One of the few analyses to consider gender, Walker and Lawson (1993) argue that librarian characters are defined by their tasks and environments. As such, recurring characteristics of female librarians, who make up a majority of librarian portrayals, include “primness, introversion, and sexual anxiety” (p. 21). Male librarians, however, lack traditional masculine qualities, such as physical ability, in favor of effeminate traits, like “mildness, civility, and intelligence” (p. 22).

Emporia State University

Kellie Meehlhause