Summer 07: Feminist Film Studies

If You're Reading This Blog...

2007-07-08T00:16:51Z

This blog is a course blog for GWSS 3307 - Feminist Film Studies in the Women's, and Sexuality Studies at the University of Minnesota, Summer 2007.

The course has ended.

Please feel free to browse the site, and remember blogs happen in reverse chronology, so if you want to start at the beginning, click HERE and scroll to the bottom, or browse the links on the right-hand sidebar.

Enjoy!

Water

2007-07-07T17:05:34Z

Water:
This is another movie that I loved watching the most because of the depiction it shows for the widow’s women. It illustrates widows struggle to survive and shows the hidden rituals, which has been practices in India. Before, I did not know much about the Indian culture. Although, my roots are from India but I been brought up here in the States so seeing something like this was shocking and painful. It was shocking and painful because people in India, have been advanced and educated, but they still believe in such practices and discrimination toward widows which is not at all equal.

Film screened on Class: Piano

2007-07-07T17:04:22Z

Reaction to the Piano by Jane Champion

I like the movie, Piano because I could reflect myself in the movie at times. I love playing Piano and like Ada, I can really express myself through Piano; so whether is an anger or frustration.
I loved the setting and the settle atmosphere around it. Furthermore, the use of water in the movies was amazing at times. The background music also played an important role in the movie. It demonstrates Ada’s character, her feelings and frustrations even more. Again, like Ada I could reflect myself at times being near by the water and not wanting to be disturbed by anyone and just be myself.
Overall, I love this movie compare to the rest of the movies I saw in the class, because this movie brings out everything that we learned in this class.

Water

2007-07-07T14:21:19Z

I thought Water by Deepa Mehta was an incredibly well-made movie.
The context of this movie is based on the discrimination against widowed women, no matter what age, in 1938
India, although this discrimination continues on even today. Water really does an amazing job exposing this situation to the audience without any dramatization in the lives of these women. It seems that Deepa Mehta made this movie, especially for educational purposes to bring about awareness, because she did not over-dramatize for entertainment purposes. As a viewer without any previous knowledge of the situation in India, I felt that I could trust Deepa Mehta and believe everything in this film.
The content of this movie shows a nine year old girl named Chuyia who is recently widowed and does not even remember getting married, which shows how poor her family must have been to have to marry her off at such a young age at that time; or maybe it was just the custom. Anyhow, with a shaven head marking her as a widow, she is forced to live in a house for widows to eventually die in, called an ashram. Here, the viewer is shown the oppressed lives of widows who are treated as half dead corpses, eating only one meal a day; and being treated unfairly: one woman says, "You've polluted me, now I have to bathe again," to Kalyani, a young widow, who falls in love with a man from the gentry class. By the end of the movie, Chuyia is forced into prostitution by her the head sister of the ashram, and then sent off on a train with Ghandi by another sister who wants to protect her and do something about the discrimination of widows.
The form of this movie was very well thought out. The color pallete was a blue, and green, and very dark. Light was used to show beauty and positivity in the depressing world of widows. An interesting part of this movie was the lack of words. There was barely any dialogue. However, I loved this part because whenever someone DID say something, it was to state something important. Every other sentence made a statement to illustrate the lives of widows in India and what some progressive Indians were doing to try to bring enlightenment to the situation. Also, music was a big part of this movie. For example, Kalyani's lover frequently played a flute, which symbolizes the blooming love between him and Kalyani. However, when Kalyani commits suicide at the end of the movie, the sound of the flute is played again, symbolizing that the love will continue on for widows like Kalyani.
I really like this movie. I liked everything about it from its content and especially its form. The colors and music used in this movie did a big part in provoking emotions from me. I think Deepa Mehta did an amazing job.

Born Into Brothels

2007-07-06T16:25:31Z

We didn’t actually screen this film in class, but we were going to and I wanted to post about it because I have seen it before.

]]> Born Into Brothels is an award winning documentary about the children of the red light district in Calcutta.
http://www.hbo.com/docs/programs/born_into_brothels/index.html
Zana Brisksi is a photographer who travels to this city and teaches the children the art of photography.
These kids mother’s are prostitutes and they will grow up to follow in these footsteps. What Zana does is puts a camera in each of their hands and allows them to find beauty in the world. They have an exibit and she tries to use the money to get these children out of the brothels and get them an education.
It was debated whether her attempts to get them out were really successful or not because many of the children who were enrolled in boarding schools returned home shortly after.
There are reports however that many of the children continued into high schools and universities and got jobs out of prostitution.

What was the most moving for me was just how beautiful the photographs the children took were. Their artistic ability just blew me away. I found myself surprised because I had envisioned the children as poor, from bad backgrounds, and uneducated, not artistic. I would not have assumed that they would be talented, playful, and funny.
The film really opened up my eyes to the truth behind a stereotype I was believing.
I think that it was a great film, and I want to see it again now with a feminist lens.
I thought I would share because I think it would be worth finding and seeing since we didn’t get a chance to in class.

These are some of the children’s photographs:

Final Paper

2007-07-06T15:30:29Z

For my final paper I looked at the relationship between true stories and cinematic representations of them.
I was pulled into that question because I was still very intrigued by the film Boys Don't Cry (which I wrote my mid-term about) and the fact that this was based on something that actually happened.

]]> I examined 3 films, one documentary, one independent, and one Hollywood.
For the documentary I discussed Lourdes Portillo's Senorita Extraviada. I thought that this was a great example of women telling other women's stories and giving them a voice they didn't have.
She was ethically responsible to these women and had to go up against the government officials and big businesses that don't support the issue. I think that the film brought attention to the subject and achieved its goal of promoting change in Ciudad Juarez.

As I mentioned already my indie film was Boys Don't Cry. I examined the difference between telling the emotional truth and factual truth of a story with this film.
I found that Kimberly Peirce did research and knew the characters and story, but what really was important to her was to find the emotions and focus on that instead of getting every detail right. She met backlash for this with some of the real people involved, even the town, but I think that she achieved what she set out to do. As a filmmaker I think she has artistic license with the story and that in a lot of ways the audience should look into it further if they want to know exactly what really happened. (Like 3 people were actually murdered not only 2 as was depicted in the film).

The Hollywood film I included was Erin Brockovich. I thought this would be a good one because of its contrast to Boys Don’t Cry. For this film the main character is not only alive but very much involved in the making of the film. Because of this almost everything is extremely accurate (even copies of the certificates on the office walls). I felt as though this was an anomaly for Hollywood to be so factual but I attribute this to the story already being what they are looking for. It’s a “Cinderella�? story that needed little altering to be marketable for mainstream audiences. Steven Soderberg therefore told it in a docudrama style way.

All three films were very different yet all claimed to tell “true stories�?. That emphasizes the importance to investigate these things further, in any case, to really get the whole picture. The film will remain to be just one person’s view of the situation and then it’s in your hands.

Women in Magazine Advertisements

2007-07-05T22:53:33Z

For those of you who are interested, here are the links to the ad "touch-ups":
* G!rlpower - Retouch
* Greg Apodaca's Digital Portfolio (I forgot to mention, there's a retouched image of a male in these -- but not nearly as much is done!)
* The Art of DeTouch

Here, also, is the list of "stereotypical criteria" -- although when you really think about it, this isn't a complete list ...

]]>

Relative size. When both men and women are present, the man is taller and/or bigger than the women and takes up more space in the picture.
Function ranking. When both men and women are present, the man serves as the instructor or performs an executive role.
Feminine touch. The woman touches herself (e.g., hair, face, lips) or her clothes in an unnatural way or uses her fingers and hands to trace the outline of an object, cradle it, or caress its surface. This type of touching is to be distinguished from the utilitarian kind, which involves grasping, manipulating, or holding objects.
Ritualization of subordination. The woman lowers herself physically in some form or other of prostration; canting postures are associated with acceptance of subordination. This includes lying or sitting on the ground, bed, or sofa—whether in the presence of another person or not, canting of the head or entire body. Also included in this category is a woman being embraced by a man, who inhibits her movement, or a woman leaning against a man’s shoulder or holding on to his arm for support, dependent on, and subordinate to the man present.
Licensed withdrawal. The woman removes herself psychologically from the situation at large or is shown mentally drifting from the physical scene, leaving her disoriented and dependent on the protectiveness of others. This is indicated by an expansive smile or laughter, covering the face or mouth, or withdrawing her gaze from the scene at large. Being involved in a phone conversation also falls into this category.
Body display. The woman is shown wearing revealing, hardly any, or no clothes at all, which is often associated with sexualized images of women.
Movement. The woman is inhibited in her movement, by being wrapped in a blanket for example, which limits the amount of control she can exert on the environment.
Location. The woman is shown in a domestic environment, such as the kitchen, bedroom, or bathroom. This also includes depicting the woman in a decontexualized, that is, unidentifiable, environment that does not allow for any purposeful activities.
Objectification. The woman is portrayed in such a way as to suggest that being looked at is her major purpose or function in the advertisement.

--Lindner, Katharina. "Images of Women in General Interest and Fashion Magazine Advertisements from 1955 to 2002." Sex Roles 51 (2004): 409-421.

Feminist Film..

2007-07-05T18:15:24Z

For me the definition of feminist film has changed tremendous because before taking this I never thought about a feminist filmmaker. My previous thinking about feminist film was that it is a society of women; although, I have totally been mistaken all long with the terminology but after this class and learning through the process has taught me what it really mean. It means feminist film can include either men or women. It means someone who believes in being treated with equality or vise versa, believing in humanitarian and trading fairness among all regardless of gender difference. This class has taught me that discriminating women based of their gender role is not going to solve the gender issues rather we all have to work together to created a stable, global and social economy.
Some of the people who I think are feminist filmmaker includes Gurinder Chadha, Jane Champion, Laura Mulvey, and Sally Potter. I chose them because their work illustrate the fairness and equality in movies or documantarey and they portray the stories of reality.I also chose them because they believe in being humanatarian.
link: http://www.britmovie.co.uk/biog/c/014.html

http://www.fys.uio.no/~magnushj/Piano/campion.html

http://www.screenonline.org.uk/people/id/490062/index.html

Is Hollywood Racist?

2007-07-05T17:28:36Z

"In recent years, with A list actors such as Denzel Washington and Halle Berry achieving widespread acclaim and success at the Oscars, there has been a sense that Hollywood is embracing black artists more than ever before."
-Anna Park, a regional attorney with the Equal Employment Opportunities Commission

Really? She could only think of two? Out of hundreds of actors? She is saying this as a good thing, but i think otherwise.

]]> I recently came across this article. An assistant was fired and believe the studio fired him because he was black. The assistant stated, "I have not done another movie and I was threatened that I was going to be blackballed by going forward and pressing these charges. Universal has sought out to selectively destroy my career," In responce Universal put out a statement saying, "There is absolutely no basis to these allegations, Universal is committed to equal employment opportunity in all aspects of its business, and we are confident many witnesses will testify that Mr Davis' firing had nothing to do with his race but was solely due to his poor performance as a first assistant director."

I think it is not only the film industry, but all American industries that discriminate. But it may be the film industry that has the largest impact on American Society. Not all of us are exposed to what goes other settings, but in film, we are able to look directly at it. We may not be seeing the directors or crew, but we are able to see the characters. Who plays the lead? Who is the bad character? Who is the single mom? Who just graduated from college? Hollywood sends us messeges, often untrue ones based on stereotypes. When looking at these films through a feminist perspective, one is easily able to see this, but I believe that this may be harmful to some. If a "type" of person is always the bad guy viewers may believe that this is "real" and develop a fear and this fear may transfer over into real life.

Women in Prison Flms - “Women so hot with desire they melt the chains that enslave them�?

2007-07-05T17:23:22Z

]]> I became interested on this genre wile doing research for my midterm paper.
These films are and will continue to be popular throughout the
years. These films have the ability to make real life issues worse, or help
improve them. When filmmakers continue to base the content of a film off of
inaccurate sterotypes of race, class, gender and sexuality, these
stereotypes will continue to be reinforced and stay in circulation. If a
filmmaker chooses to, they could have a very profound effect on our
judicial system, prison conditions, and chances for rehabilitation after
prison. As feminist filmmakers are concerned with the rights of all people
it is most likely them who will be able to raise awareness about areas of
injustice and inspire people to get involved in creating not only a just
prison system, but help transform our country into a place that treats all
people equally regardless of race, class, gender or sexuality.

Hero & House Of Flying Daggers

2007-07-05T17:19:46Z

A blurb on Director Yimou Zhang and his films Hero and House of Flying Daggers

]]> My paper was analytical of Yimou Zhang's body of work in Asian foreign films, two of which I analyzed in-depth, Hero and House of Flying Daggers, released in 2002 and 2004 respectively.

Both films were set in China and cover a great deal of historical content concerning the history of China which serves as a background to the movies and why the events are taking place. For those that have seen these films, you already know that they both deal with assassins, a common theme in Zhang's work, the idea of social tension between state and citizens and how the citizens (assassins) want this change to come about (killing officials). Zhang executes his films by including extensive fight scenes that are interpreted not only as a battle, but as a dance of sorts, something to be marveled at and admired. The director points to scenes that need special attention by slowing time, amplifying sound and changing color schemes, for example, in Hero, the story goes through several revisions each of which take on a different color to help the audience differentiate between one story and the next. Zhang also includes a variety of gazes in his film, as a film would be difficult if it did not have any gazes whatsoever. In his film House of Flying Daggers, however, one character is a blind girl, Mei, who has a displaced gaze for the majority of the film and to show her 'alternate gaze' Zhang has chosen to have the camera follow her hands and listen to sounds to make up for what vision Mei does not have, the audience is able to construct her gaze through what they also feel and hear.

Zhang's use of gender takes an interesting standpoint because all of his soldiers are male while dancers and musicians tend to be of the female gender. One can argue that Zhang has taken a sexist standpoint, but must also realize that, given the historical background in the introduction of the movie, to make soldiers and guards only male and dancers and musicians only female would only be historically accurate--a creative choice on Zhang's behalf to create a 'real' film. Hero sends the audience in an imperialistic direction when the emperor claims he is going to unite the 6 kingdoms and suppress all other rebellious states, later unifying the land through one language and law--thus the reasoning for the assassins to kill the emperor.

Both extremely interesting and beautiful films to watch, I would argue that, though Zhang tries to keep both films historically accurate, there are many decisions besides these that would show the director's creative choices and express his ideas and opinions otherwise.

Final

2007-07-05T17:07:43Z

I decided to do my final paper on how feminist filmmakers seek “real�? stories to make their films about such as Kimberly Pierce and Lourdes Portillo.

]]> I brought in examples of how a director will say the film is based on a true story, but just like the Chainsaw Massacre, only a few details were true while the rest was due to the directors’ imagination.
I also noted how some directors make films for education rather then for money. They use reality rather then fiction to make their movies. Thus, they are not always blockbusters at the theaters. People rather escape from reality and watch something totally fictitious in order to escape their all too realistic life.

Femme Fatale Filmmakers

2007-07-05T17:06:38Z

What is it that makes a feminist filmmaker a feminist filmmaker?

]]> As was stated in one of our previous readings, not every female is a feminist writer and not every feminist writer is female. This same outline applies to filmmaking/media making. Not every female is a feminist filmmaker and not every feminist filmmaker is feminist.

The film does not need to say outright "I am a feminist film" because viewing the film and paying attention to enough details, the audience should know if the filmmaker, despite gender, race, orientation (and so forth) is feminist or not.

A film or filmmaker is considered 'feminist' if they think about their film through the feminist lens: gender, race, class, sexual orientation, biological sex, masculinity, femininity so forth and so on. If the film or filmmaker takes these genres into account during the film and is able to make a statement with them that is not oppressive to any of these groups, rather, shows them in fair judgment or makes the film to show why they are not shown in fair judgment, then, my friends, that is a feminist film.

I suppose, for a grand finale, my example of a feminist filmmaker is based on Amy Tan's novel:

Joy Luck Club

The Roles and Representations of Women in Trois Couleurs

2007-07-05T16:58:25Z

A feminist analysis of Krzysztof Kieslowski’s films can reveal that despite his appreciation of women’s creativity, beauty and complexity (as each one of his heroine are well rounded characters), the Three Colors trilogy retell and enforce the existing order of patriarchy. In each one of these films a woman challenges patriarchy as she chooses to live without a man (in Blue), engage in unauthorized sexual activity (White) or just live far away from the man in her life (Red), but each one of these films concludes with the heroine surrendering her power to men or being forcibly surrender by it.

]]> Each of the three films begins with a challenge to masculinity or patriarchy: in Blue this challenge comes from the fact Julie, who lost her husband, refuse to tie herself to another man, in White the challenge is of Dominique, who humiliates, abuse and chase her husband out of France, and in Red it is the mere fact Valentine lives far away from her boyfriend and from the betrayal and humiliation of August by his girlfriend,, Karin. Kieslowski male heroes do not respond with physical violence to the challenge to their authority/patriarchy but find themselves either actively or passively restoring the patriarchal order by the end of the movies. Oliver tricks Julie into cooperating with him in completing the concerto and she ends up sleeping with him (presumably adopting him as a replacement of her husband), Karol “gets even�? with his wife, punishes her for her unauthorized sexuality and thus regain her love, and August (the most passive of the male leading characters) ends up with Valentine as his cheating girlfriend dies in the ferry accident the seals the Three Colors trilogy.

Kieslowski saw his Three Colors trilogy as three stories that deals with the human condition as it reflects in the life of people in Europe of the early 1990’s, but whether he intended to do so or not, his trilogy also carry messages about gender, sexuality and class.

A feminist analysis of the Three Colors discovers this under-layer of meaning, and what it has to say about the relationships between man and woman. The over-arching and repeating theme of each one of the movies separately and all of the movies together is the triumph of white heterosexual patriarchy. Almost every time a non-authorized sexuality appears it is greatly punished, whether it is when the bad woman dies (Red) or locked up in jail (White), when a lower class prostitute sees her father among the audience in a sex show where she performs (Blue) or when extramarital affairs are bringing (or about to bring) death or destruction on families ideal (in multiple examples mentioned above in Red).

What Makes Media Feminist?

2007-07-05T16:28:19Z

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.