Summer 07: Feminist Film Studies

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.

Posted by angelforever_22 at 6:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

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.

Posted by angelforever_22 at 6:04 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

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.

Posted by Amy at 3:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

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.

Continue reading "Born Into Brothels" »

Posted by Kelsey Marie at 5:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)

This film was a very moving one for me and was a long time coming. I had heard a lot about the film but hadn't had a chance to actually see it. Last school year the issue came up when through Amnesty International thousands of crosses were sent to the government. They were in the form of glued together popsicle sticks, but they were all signed as a petition (that I would argue is more powerful than a piece of paper) for change in Ciudad Juarez. I had therefore heard and read a lot on the topic but hadn't seen the film but I thought it was very powerful. I am glad that it is viewed on so many college campuses and is an effective tool in spreading the word and inspiring people to get involved (as we read in the article from the U of MN).
This really demonstrated the power of documentary as an activist tool and showed how important it is that certain stories get told.
I guess I just wanted to speak out a little and I hope that it made everybody else feel like doing something, or even more, about issues like this one. Watching films like this (or I guess anything we've watched) get me all stirred up and I think it's a wonderful thing! We all just have to keep fighting for change and eventually we'll get there.

Posted by Kelsey Marie at 10:29 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The Piano hits on some very interesting points when it comes down to the analytical portions of the film, it causes questions to arise about women, views of women, the reaction of women in that day and age and other interesting areas of discussion. The Piano also brings out common misconceptions about Deaf/Mute Culture...

Continue reading "The Piano & Misconceptions of Women and Deaf/Mute Culture" »

Posted by sarahchoy at 6:33 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I have to say that I am rather disappointed with the "approving comments" thing on this blog. Shouldn't people have the right to say anything without the judgement of others to decide what is ok to post? The reason I mention it is because I wrote a rather lengthy comment in regards to the Jurassic Park and The Piano piece that a classmate wrote, and it was rejected. Maybe my comment wasn't even received and I'm complaining for no reason, but regardless, I just wanted to comment on that.

Since I don't know what happened to my comment, I'm going to write it here.

Continue reading "The Piano, The Phallus, and Dinosaurs" »

Posted by ultimate leader of the usa at 6:31 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

The Piano, while being a tremendously good film, is still, effectively, the unofficial prequel to Jurassic Park. It features Sam Neill as Alisdair Stewart, the great-great grandfather of Dr. Alan Grant of Jurassic Park, also played by Neill. Neill's character is stationed on a remote jungle island that will eventually come to be known as Jurassic Park, always running off to something (the dinosaurs, of course!). He locks Ada in not because of Baines, but rather to protect her from the now-rampant dinosaurs. He builds a fence (what for? The dinos!). Simply put, it all adds up. I was worried during my viewing of the film that Neill would die at some point because of his villainous nature, but fortunately for the sake of the Jurassic Park series, he was able to survive. And by the way I don't expect credit for this.

An old photograph of Stewart:

His great-great grandson having apparently lost control years later:

Posted by Darth Nep0wix at 7:48 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)

I'm not going to make this too formal but I just have some brief disagreements with Hooks's claims in the video. First and foremost, her phrase "white supremacist capitalist patriarchy� – while I completely agree with the idea behind the phrase I do not consent the wording of it, specifically “supremacist.� For me, this term evokes sentiments of the Ku Klux Klan and other such organizations that are overtly radical and oftentimes considered dangerous. But again, I understand the concept and I completely agree with it. The other issue I feel I need to address is a more personal one, concerning the featuring of Star Wars in her commentary. I thought her remarks on the usage of African-American/black actor James Earl Jones’s voice as Darth Vader were a little off-base—firstly because Darth Vader is actually a white-skinned character, and secondly because Jones (especially in his later years) has most commonly been used as a voice actor rather than a screen actor. I am a huge Star Wars fan and even though I would call the film ignorantly racist in the manner that most of the cast is white as well as how certain species suggest certain ethnic groups, I feel the voice of Darth Vader bears no racist connation, explicit or implicit. That is all.

Posted by Darth Nep0wix at 3:39 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)