North Country.. My paper #4
For my final project I choose to explore the film Northern Country that was directed by Niki Caro in 2005. For anyone who hasn't seen this film I feel like it is a very powerful and moving story, especially for women. The cast in this film are all very well known and do a great job in my opinion as far as reenacting what occurred back in 1989. I choose this film for the topic of my analysis because not only is it based on a true story but I wanted to examine how genders and classes of people are represented as a whole. I also thought it would be a good film to analysis how men are portrayed in male based jobs and what types of messages the film industry is selling to audiences. So I did this analysis by first watching the movie a few times, and taking notes on what was actually occurring and why. Then I told the story throughout my paper and used feminist theory to explain what I thought was really occurring. This was difficult because as a female I felt sympathy for the women experiencing the heart ships in this film. I felt like the film was made in good taste overall and was feminist media in a sense because it represented women coming together and using the union in their favor. Throughout my paper I used examples of how men were portrayed and how the women responded back to them. I also looked at how the characters had agency and what gave them their power. It was very interesting to look at how the gaze(s) were used in this film. So in my conclusion I feel like film and media can be feminist if done correctly. And without stories like these we may not have laws that protect us from sexual harassment in the work place today. Here’s a clip of North Country with some interviews so you can get a little taste of what I feel like feminist film is and about. Enjoy!