Week Four Blog
The film Cusp was an outtake of the experiences of a pre-teen girl, Alice, in her “everyday.� Alice’s everyday was filled with implications of power and gender. The viewpoint was perfect to explore these implications because she was a pre-teen – unsure of where she fit in and trying to pick up on the social cues that embody the gender experience of adults.
Power was very clearly represented in this movie. One could easily see that men and boys held the power in many situations in Alice’s life. An obvious example is during class when Alice and Eliza are given detention for being late, but the disruptive boys are rewarded for their misbehavior by getting their question answered. Men also hold the power elsewhere in Alice’s everyday, though it may not have affected her directly. For example, Leila’s partner left her, and it had a devastating effect on her. This experience was a message to Alice that men have the power – he could pick up and leave when he wanted, and Leila was supposed to clean up after him. There was nothing she could do about it.
Gender is seen in other ways throughout the film. Alice is told numerous times that she is supposed to always look “gorgeous� for men. The message is also sent that she needs a boyfriend to be happy – even her little brother tells her this. She also needs to be beautiful to be happy, as implied when Eliza and her new friend tell her that she is ugly. Gender is also effected between the mixed messages of whether she is a girl or a young woman.
Alice’s frustrations arise because of this – she does not know where she stands as far as gender. Is she a child or an adult? A girl or a young woman?