Literary Analysis (3rd Draft)

The Opposition w/ Jordan Klepper “War on Men: Resisting the Evil Estrogenda”

In his segment, "War on Men: Resisting the Evil Estrogenda",  Jordan Klepper suggests that men should educate themselves about feminism and look towards statistics for truth, rather than make assumptions based on their feelings. Klepper uses satiric techniques such as allusion, sarcasm, and irony in order to get this message across.

While watching the video, the whole idea of a "war on men" didn't settle well with me. After centuries of oppression and decades of fighting, women have started to make greater leaps in achieving gender equality. Yet, here I am watching a video about how in reality, men are the ones being oppressed. It all seemed completely ironic in itself. In fact, Klepper notes the irony of the topic when he says, "We men have never been more under attack than we are right now because we used to not be under attack at all." Klepper directly states the irony of the concept, highlighting the ridiculousness of the idea. For centuries, we have lived in a patriarchal society, constantly praising men for leading us in every aspect of our lives. This idea of men are the breadwinners of their families has been instilled in society for so long that it became a part of philosophies and religions, such as Confucianism. One of the fundamental parts of Confucianism is "The Five Relationships."

The Five Key Relationships in Confucianism

And in "The Five Relationships",  one of the key relationships is husband to wife. This is a clear example of how women have constantly been considered inferior to men as they were to obey their husbands no matter what. Therefore, seeing as men have never really been attacked, the whole concept of a "war on men" is simply ironic, as it contrasts greatly with the reality of gender inequality.

Moreover, Klepper used allusions and made various references throughout his segment in order to help the viewers further understand his message. For instance, when describing the situation between Google and James Damore, a former Google employee, he compared it to David and Goliath. People often allude to David and Goliath in underdog situations. In this context, men are the underdogs (David), and women are the bigger, stronger opponent (Goliath). By alluding to "The Bible", he gives

David vs Goliath

readers the ability to further understand the circumstances, as "The Bible" is a holy text that millions of people base their morals on, and David and Goliath is a well-known Biblical story. Moreover, by using this analogy he highlights how ridiculous this war on men is, as men are feeling like the weaker opponents, when they're the ones implying that "31 percent of Google's employees were less fit for their job" just because of the biological differences between men and women. This juxtaposes the David and Goliath analogy because in this situation, men (James Damore)  are the ones attacking and criticizing women for being "weaker" in certain skill areas, which resembles greatly with Goliath's characteristic of being the superior one in the situation. By contrasting David and Goliath with the words of James Damore, Klepper highlights how the idea of progression for women in various aspects of life, scares some men as the perception of men being considered higher or better than women is starting to deteriorate.

In addition, I noticed how sarcastic Klepper was in the entire video. Everything he said had a sarcastic tone to it, notifying viewers that he wasn't a misogynist or a "meninist", and that what he said was to be taken lightheartedly. Right off the bat, when he started talking about this so-called war on men, he illustrated how ludicrous it was for men to fear the idea of "[making] the same amount of money as women." His sarcasm shined through when he said this, as he framed the "frothing feminists" in a negative way, but framed their intentions in a positive manner. Similarly, when talking about what is now becoming a "Tech Fempire", he made sure to come in handy with statistics of how "Women now hold a whopping 11 percent of executive positions [in the tech industry]." He further emphasizes the enormous gender gap by questioning if "[there's] any room for men." By contradicting his statements with facts, he further reinforces his message of how men should look towards real evidence, before basing their opinions on how they feel as his segment clearly illustrates how closing the gender gap is a positive thing, not something to fear of.

Timothee Chalamet, a rising actor, has decided to donate all of the profit he receives from his new Woody Allen (director that has allegedly sexually abused many women)  movie, to organizations such as "Time's Up".

Seeing as there has been a lot of progress in regards to women moving up the hierarchy and becoming equal to men, I felt that this video was very relevant. In Hollywood recently, there have been many actresses and actors who have spoken about the unequal pay in the industry. Noticing the huge disparity between men and women, many actors have been willing enough to take pay cuts, so that their salaries are equal to their female counterparts. Men are now joining the conversation and standing with women, not against them.