My Understanding of Feminist Film/Media
In the beginning of this course I felt like I had no sense of what a feminist film was or who made them and why, however at this point I feel like I have some type of foundation to base my newly gained knowledge upon. My foundation is made up of many different definitions as to what it means to be feminist and is also made up of different theories. These theories are made up of ideas from feminists like Laura Mulvey, which presented the ideas of "The Gaze" and "Visual Pleasures". Ann Kaplan, who first introduced "Feminism & Film" and "Is The Gaze Male". Bell Hooks who introduced the "Oppositional Gaze of Black Spectators". These women have similar ideas but also feel differently about certain issues, which I think makes this a difficult topic to learn and apply. However, it's easy to look at their work and know that it's feminist because we know that they clearly designate themselves to be a feminist. There are other feminists that do not declare themselves feminists like that of Deepa Mehta who claims that she is a humanitarian. Therefore, I think it's of importance to recognize that not all feminist films have to be written by a feminist film maker, but can also be made by a male or female of the mainstraim who challenge norms in gender roles, sex, class, ethnicity, and morals.
It was news to me that men could make feminist film/media before I had taken this course. I had made the assumption that all feminist were female, however throughout many different screenings of films in this course have I learned otherwise. I'm now able to take the ideas of what makes a film feminist and relate it into other pieces of work and see what makes a film important. I think a feminist film maker brings important issues to the table and makes them relevant even when it is bad taboo to talk about them in our country and other countries. I feel like feminists often take a stand at things and speak them as they are and challenge many norms.
I feel like feminists challenge the roles that women play in cinema today by critically looking their scripts and how they are portrayed to the audience. I feel like they critically look at sex, gender, roles, and how the female body is represented in cinema and media by challenging what mainstream portrays as normal. They have brought it to our attention that what we see everyday and everywhere is not normal or healthy for the female population in general but sometimes degrading. I feel like they are advocates for equality and fair representation of the female body in cinema/media. However, with that said I'm not sure I have a clear definition as to what makes a piece of cinema feminist other than consider who is making it and what side of the spectrum they are trying to represent or illustrate. Overall, to my understandings this far the best way I can describe what I have learned is on a continuum, where you have feminists who speak up loud and clear like Bell Hooks vs. people like Deepa Mehta who claim they are not feminist but rather humanitarian. In summary I have learned that there is a lot of different components that go into feminist film theory and are very vital to our society.