Good question
What is a feminist? I've been considering this question since class on Tuesday, and have thus far only come up with one conclusion: that is a good question. I have learned so much this semester, and I am confident that I can identify a piece of media as being feminist, and yet I'm having a hard time actually defining what it is that makes something or someone feminist. Perhaps there are varying degrees of feminism? There are the pieces of media - such as belle hooks' papers - that are flat-out 100% feminist. She spends her life raising the awareness of women's issues and questioning the things around her from a feminist standpoint; there is no doubt in my mind that she is a feminist and creates feminist media. But then there is media like Jane Campion's The Piano. That film can be (and has been) analyzed and picked apart from countless angles to reveal a feminist perspective, and yet Campion does not identify herself as a feminist. She is a non-feminist producing feminist media. So we're back to square one; what is feminism? I think many people would agree that both bell hooks' media and Jane Campion's media are feminist, so I suppose we can assume that the creator herself does not need to specifically identify herself as sa feminist in order to gain the attention of a feminist audience and produce feminist media. So how about this: a piece of feminist media is one that has the ability to be credibly analyzed in a feminist light and has identifiable feminists characteristics, regardless of what the author or director claims and identifies herself as. It is something that simply (or not-so-simply, as it turns out) has joined the fight for women's rights, whether consciously intended or not.