Reaction Essay (outside DIFF): Raising Cain

Raising Cain, is a documentary based on co-author and host of the documentary Michael Thompson, P.H. D.’s book Raising Cain: Exploring the Inner Lives of America’s Boys. The doc’s running time is 120 minutes, the film was produced in 2006 by Powerhouse Productions and aired through PBS. This doc illustrates the life of boys currently raised in the United States, their pressures, assumptions surrounding boys, problems and suggested remedies. There is a correlation between this documentary and the DIFF short Making the Man in that this documentary explores the tribulations imposed on adolescent males striving to find their own identity, an identity that has been socially constructed and made permanent through time. The film also addresses the issue of violence in the media and shortcoming of currently accepted ways of curing the problem.

The doc emphasizes that the “crux of the issue” is that children’s violent thoughts must be accommodated rather than mistaken for actual violence. The film raises the question of what is inherently violent in humans and what are the warning signs for actual violent action? Michael Thompson visits many elementary schools and focuses on ways that teachers deal with violent thoughts in kindergartners. One teacher’s method is allowing students to create their own fictional stories and discussing with the class over what is appropriate for violence. The consensus the class reaches is that characters are allowed to “faint” rather than be killed.

Thompson also visits a hospital nursery to focus on how as infants there is no true distinction between males and females, focusing on the socially-constructed nature of gender.
Thompson discusses discipline tactics in Japan and how their effectiveness differs greatly from the United States. It was interesting to learn that in a Japanese day care the teacher stands back when fights break out/violent tendencies surface, and she looks to the students to resolve their conflict individually. This teaches the students empathy and also invokes the lesson of communicating feelings rather than expressing them physically. In day cares in the United States, Thompson focuses on how when violence breaks out the teacher jumps right in and eliminates the opportunity for self-imposed resolution and empathetic communication.

Thompson interviews several pubescent boys in order to gather input as to their educational experience, his responses were startling. Those interviewed are under the impression that their teachers favor the girl classmates over boys. The host points out that due to boys’ impulsive tendencies and the disciplinary tactics used to overcome these outbursts, boys begin to gather the impression that the school “deck is stacked against them”, thus setting them up for failure. Thompson points out that of all teachers in schools over %70 are female and thus boys have less role models to relate to in their schools.

When interviewed over their favorite subjects in school, the boys’ answers include recess, gym, snack period etc. rather than academic subjects of any sort. Thompson suggests that boys growing up in school need more recess in order to release their consuming amount of energy. Many young boys receive punishment in school for their outbursts and difficulties in concentration, this punishment takes away certain energy-releases for them such as recess, where they are forced to stay in and complete unfinished tasks, thus another example of how boys may have the conception the “cards are stacked against them”.

Tying to boys’ attention capabilities, Thompson indicates that out of all boy students in the United States, 1/3 are diagnosed with ADD or ADHD or a similar hyper-attention deficit disorder. Thompson raises the question: “Should these students be medicated?” or simply treated in ways to accommodate naturally energy impulse? The doc also presents the fact that fewer than 1 in 9 teacher is male, and focuses on a particular male teacher in New York whose tactics for dealing with a “problematic” male student are highly effective. The teacher has the student take a walk around the school whenever he feels unable to concentrate on given tasks.

Thompson visits the Bronx where boys test scores are the lowest in New York City. He notes that the smarter, academic boys are teased and bullied. One remedy for boys’ performance is an all-boys school Thompson visits. In the all-boys school, the code word for love is “brother”. The school ingrains values of emotion and compassion in order to avoid the socially constructed “tough” masculinity that seeds out emotional releases. The school is predominately filled with economically disadvantaged inner-city boys. Thompson notes that upon interviewing both male and female students in the Bronx area, %80 of males strive to be professional NBA players where %80 of females strive to be doctors and lawyers. Where has the academic ambition in males gone? Why are the boys growing up in America hyper focused on creating this type of identity for themselves and ashamed at thriving in school?

Certain boys interviewed from the all-boys school mention that there is no pressure to “act tough” and the boys are generally “nicer”. The school helps pre-pubescent boys learn with the absence of imposed gender roles. An interviewed male teacher claims: “Only men can teach a boy how to be a man”. This addresses the problem that many boys’ behavioral problems could arise from the absence of a strong male leader-figure in their lives, at home and in school.
Honing in on the puberty process, Thompson describes that puberty for males begins at 12 and thus starts their “culture of cruelty”. The host focuses on one “outcast” type boy trying to survive throughout this period and how is found identity as a band-member, metal head has created in him self-confidence to continue his life happily. The thirteen year-old’s band is called “obsolete human disorder”. This made me laugh, however it is also quite disturbing to realize a lost 13 year old finds solace in a band capitalizing on the setbacks of the human existence. When asked what names this boy has been called for his decision to defy mainstream convention, the boy responded: “fat-Mcgoth”, “fag”, “loser”, etc. Boys are commonly bullied throughout this age group at school, often times physically.

Thompson elaborates on the “culture of cruelty”. He claims that in order for youth to defend themselves against this culture individuals must create their own identities. Boys must “own” part of something. Every boy needs a friend, or friends to survive. Their common mission to peers is to prove themselves in some way, boys must master some sort of trade or interest in order to validate their place.

Thompson focuses on turning boys into men. Focusing on 15-17 year olds, Thompson realizes that the most common recruiting factor for male teen group is imposing fear. Out of the fear of “not being cool” and other similar insecurities, boys develop a “need” for male role models, the absence of dependable male role models thus leads them to look up to older teens who perpetuate the fear-recruitment tactic. In the town of Chelsea, Thompson reports that 1/3 of households are fatherless, when asking certain boys who the male role models in their lives are, answers included: their coaches and mothers.

Thompson brings up the issue of “the mask of masculinity”, where many boys thrive on projecting a “tough posture”, but Thompson specifies that underneath this mask lies fear and sadness and an underlying inability to express necessary emotions. Thompson looks at one neighborhood where boys regularly organize fights where nine-year olds are coached by other boys. Therefore young kids are taught how to fight each other and remain popular and liked by their ability to hold their own in a street fight. One boy actually comments: “On the streets, you gotta be like an animal”.

The U.S. leads the industrial world in fatherless-ness, and Thompson indicates that commonly accepted forms of punishment may provoke negative influences that increase boys’ vulnerability to joining the aforementioned gang manhood. One example Thompson uses to illustrate the fatal nature of current punishment tactics is an example of a group of boys disciplined in a school after vandalizing school property. The boys interviewed who were known to be directly involved all resorted to lying. Thompson indicates that boys will almost always resort to lie as not to be ashamed.

The documentary’s main conclusive remedy is for the boys of the United States to see more men filling value roles beneficial in that these figures must show compassion and caring and help recreate and redefine convention’s image of manhood.