What Makes Media Feminist?
The answer to this question is very completed on one level and very simple on another: the more simple answer is that any movie (or other form of media) that deliver or present feminist values and critiques racist, sexist, patriarchal and oppressive ways of thinking or practices. This relatively simple answer becomes more complex since there are many disagreement on what is “the feminist thing to do� in many cases, or what different feminism say on the same issue.
One such example can be the sex industry: Julia Query’s film Live Nude Girls Unite can be seen by a second wave feminists as a documentary that shows how oppressed women internalized their sexual oppression so much they are fighting for the right to continue be treated like sex-objects rather than whole and full human beings who deserve to maintain their physical and emotional dignity. A third-waver, on the other hand, may see this film as a documentary about women power and empowerment, and therefore a feminist film. Both of these views are feminist, and both have some valid point that are worthy of consideration. So is Live Nude Girls Unite a feminist film?
The answer has, like with any other media form (including written materials), three parts: what the author thinks or declare his intentions to be, what spectators (or the general public and scholars) think the media to be, and what a feminist analysis of the piece itself can reveal.
Some of the feminist filmmakers we encountered this semester include Katja Van Garner (Iron Jawed Angel), Faith Hubley (W.O.W), Grace Lee (Barrier Device), Cheryl Dunye (The Watermelon Woman), Kimberly Pierce (Boys Don’t Cry), Julia Query (Live Nude Girls Unite),
Aishah Simmons (No!), Lourdes Portillo (Senorita Extraviada) and Deepa Mehta (Fire, Earth, Water).
Of those media makers, Cheryl Dunye’s Hollywood career shows a feminist filmmaker can make non-feminist (and even crude and oppressive) films, while Deepa Mehta’s example show that a feminist filmmaker may refuse to call himself/herself a feminist but still produce feminist’ films or media.
The only website I am familiar with that has links to feminist media (besides being feminist in its own right) is http://www.feministing.com . This excellent site has daily commentaries on news around the world, contribution from many feminist-bloggers and Video-bloggers, and feminist flicker-films and merchandise.
I am sure there are many more feminist-media resources out there, and even in my notes from the various GWSS courses I took in the past years, but since I am using feministing.com almost daily that was the first (and unfortunately, only) source that jumped out to mind.
Comments
Thanks for writing this entry. I have a blog about critiquing pop media from a feminist perspective. It always helps to get more perspectives. :D
Posted by: April | August 1, 2007 9:54 PM
Of those media makers, Cheryl Dunye’s Hollywood career shows a feminist filmmaker can make non-feminist (and even crude and oppressive) films, while Deepa Mehta’s example show that a feminist filmmaker may refuse to call himself/herself a feminist but still produce feminist’ films or media.
Posted by: фильмы Ñ?качать УжаÑ?Ñ‹ | January 10, 2008 4:24 PM