F06 :: Feminist Film Studies

From this class, I sometimes look at films differently. Last night I took a break from my studying and paper writing and went and saw The Holiday. In some scenes, I found myself thinking about the characters more critically then I would have before. The stereotypes portrayed in the film, like the fact that one of the main female characters can't cry is a shock to everyone. But, the same character is also given power as an advertising company's owner. Since this semester has gone by, from all we have studied and gone over, I have come to feel that pretty much any movie with female characters can be looked at as feminist. The definitions of 'feminist' and 'feminism' are so open and still uncertain makes this look at media logical.

Depending on how you watch a film, you could analyze the lead women as either the dominating heroin, the mother figure, the stereotypical female and so on. The possibilities are almost endless and it's almost as if there is an ounce of stereotyping it can be considered feminist. Because of my broad outlook on this, I think a movie can be considered a feminist film, whether it's slightly feminist or extremely feminist, without the director calling themself a feminist or their film.

Reading through other classmates views on feminist media and looking at their film selections supports my general look at it. Because feminism does not have one strict definition, it is hard to pinpoint what exactly a feminist film is. For example, talking with classmates and even friends outside of class I have heard feminism be defined in multiple ways. Some people feel a feminist is 'anyone that thinks women exist' or 'someone who thinks women deserve rights.' Another way to define feminism is by saying they are 'anyone that promotes the good for women and feels women should be considered near equals to men.' The definiitions I have heard have some similiarities but the differences they have make it clear that the definition is still in question. Until a straight definition is created, it is impossible, in my opinion, to put limitations on what is and is not feminist media.

Posted by Kelsey Buckley at 10:59 AM | Permalink | Comments (7)

I think that it is important to understand and study all of the facets of film. One thing I have come to understand lately is that it is generally important to control your representation. In historical films, there were many things that were mis-represented. Films had very stereotypical characters, much so that the protagonist was nearly always the white male. Male roles with other nationalities were either seen as villains, or characters that essentially didn't matter to the evolution of the story. Woman simply could not be the protagonists, and as Mulvey states in her article about the gaze, that women were basically used by the male viewer, and even the male characters. They were, in Classical cinema, considered 'eye candy' for the viewer. Although this has generally changed in the past decades leading up to present filmmaking, it is still important for women to be able to control their representation.

In feminist media, I think the key argument to be made is that it is important for feminists to be able to control and censor their representations. When they are in positions of power, women are capable of presenting themselves the way they want to be seen. They then can be accountable for the representations in film and other sources of media. Women are then allowed to censor themselves, and eventually tell the stories the way they want them to be told. Because of this, women in writing, directing, producing, editing, and other fields of media are important because they are in a position to control this. That seems to be my understanding of feminist media, or at least an important aspect of its importance.

Posted by Jacob Deibele at 03:54 AM | Permalink | Comments (5)

When I took this class I knew of feminism as a movement but not of the different types of feminism. I feel feminism exists whether we are willing to proclaim ourselves as feminists or we are willing to acknowledge that there is a feminism movement. The same applies to all types of media producers. It is not necessary for me to know that the media producer is a feminist or for the same person to believe they are a feminist either. After this class, I have learned to watch everything with a critical eye. Social issues are represented in everything we see on TV and magazines, the question is whether we are willing to recognize it. For example, in Iris Marion Young’s "The Scaling of Bodies" she states that racism, sexism, homophobia, ageism, and ableism have not disappeared but have gone underground, and dwelling in everyday habits and cultural meaning of which people are for the most part unaware. Where there is a person recognizing misrepresentation - there is the movement of feminism. Feminism, to me, has moved from only representing women, to the bigger scale of representing discrimination against any person’s beliefs. So do we still need to study and represent feminism? There is no question whether these issues still exist when skin still sells, we have not had a female president, and in fact...we have not had a black male president. What I am trying to say is that we are all feminists whether we like it or not. When we choose to believe that someone is being mistreated because of the color of their skin, their gender, or their sexual orientation and choose to stand up for them - that is what feminism is to me. As far as naming media, in fairness to everything I have watched and have yet to watch, I can't limit that list to a few. For example, I watched a football game and there were the cheerleaders, as an object of the sex in the game of football. During the same time, there were scantily clad women selling beer on a commercial. Then I flipped the channel and saw Titanic. Now for a big budget Hollywood movie and with no intention of using the film as an object of transport of the feministic view, there were numerous occasions when Rose was mistreated due to her gender and at the same time was given power through her gender.
Again, feminism is everywhere. I choose to recognize it, but I am not a feminist. I don't have to be one to realize that there is objectification of female bodies, homophobia, and still...racism are present. What we decide to do with the knowledge is what sets us apart from the "real" feminists. A "real" feminist is one who chooses not only to educate us about the issues but also offers some solutions.

Posted by Nodira Ismoilova at 05:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

First of all, I must say that I learned a lot over the semester—but I feel like I’ve been facing this area in our media for a long time (like the noticeable gaze, gender stereotypes, etc.). However, I don’t think that I’ll ever completely understand it all. There are just so many theories, issues, and context to consider that it can really get quite overwhelming. Yet, I think that it’s still very important to continue to develop this “feminist” study. Whether we like it or not, feminism, and masculinity play a huge role in our society. They not only define our culture, but also help us to shape the way we define ourselves.

Yet, defining what makes media feminist can be very challenging. Although it’s necessary to know the context (who’s making the film, profiting from the film, writing the film, etc.), I believe that the film’s form (“filmic analysis”) and the film’s content (issues, themes, topics within the frame, etc.) are essential to consider. I mean, it’s not like all the filmmakers are telling you face to face that they’re making feminist media—or that they consider themselves to be feminist filmmakers. Making the declaration might help in some way, but it doesn’t really answer the main question—what makes the media “feminist.”

In a very simple definition, I think that feminist media generally centers on the female experience with issues such as voice, representation, and equality between men and women (content), and must visually represent a female gaze/perspective (form).

These are some filmmakers that I consider to be “feminist” filmmakers (obviously they’re all women… but again, being a woman doesn't necessarily make them “feminist filmmakers,” and it's not the only thing that defines them as "feminist filmmakers"):
Jane Campion(“The Piano”), Kimberly Peirce (“Boy’s Don’t Cry”), Nora Ephron (“Hanging Up”)… and Claire Denis (“Chocolat”—and not the one with Johnny Depp)

Also, here’s a link to an interesting interview with Claire Denis, a French filmmaker:
http://www.sensesofcinema.com/contents/05/35/claire_denis_interview.html
And some of her trailers at imdb.com
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0219136/

Posted by Elizabeth Bodnia at 03:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I have a problem with saying feminist filmmakers (and the media in general) depict “real” women, mostly because I have a problem with the term “real women.” I suspect that the category of “real women” does not include the likes of celebutantes more known for what they take off and shake than what they think. Or six-foot tall, 100 pound supermodels. Or any other category of women known primarily for their physical beauty or sensationalist antics. Although I do believe very few "types" of women are portrayed in the media, and most of them are shown because they have these "desirable" attributes, and not because they actually did something film or newsworthy, I would not go so far as to call these women “fake.” (Yes, they may be airbrushed. Yes, they may cultivate a personality to capture the media's attention.) But whether you agree with how they dress or act or not, these are "real" people.

What I think the critique is actually trying to say is that feminist filmmakers and feminist media should give more attention to a wider array of women then the "mainstream" media (another controversial term), be they women of different races, backgrounds, body sizes, gender identities, etc. This gives a more realistic depiction of the average woman, rather than an over saturation of the depiction of a very small population of women.

Posted by Kristen Mueller at 06:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

What makes media feminist: I believe a piece of media is feminist if it not only addresses an area in which women have been oppressed but displays it, whether it be through narrative, documentary or other form of median, in a way that will get people to realize it is wrong or unfair, such as the treatment of Brandon Teena in “Boys don’t Cry”. Feminist elements to movies, TV shows or even advertisements can be in-your-face, obvious feminist viewpoint or more subtle, almost unconscious elements, that overtime may help toward the equality of women. And a piece of media does not have to be all feminist to promote the equality of women or challenge the unfair gender roles forced on women in a patriarchal setting; the definition is not very clear cut. Some TV shows might feature a female character as independent and outgoing, breaking traditional gender roles. For example, I love Elaine from Seinfeld. For a show that aired starting in 1990, Elaine was a woman character who broke many traditional gender roles instilled in patriarchal culture. She was single, had a career, enjoyed sports and openly talked about her sex life and desires. Now obviously Seinfeld is not a feminist piece of media, but Elaine is a good example of how small parts of our everyday media intake can help change peoples’ views about women away from constructed gender roles such as the housewife. Even technical areas of film can make it feminist. For example, a film that does not use shots that reflect a male gaze on women as objects, especially the Hollywood voyeuristic gaze, can give a film important feminist perspectives. It might be content or context elements that a film does NOT use that make in feminist. For example if a woman in a magazine ad or a character on TV does not wear makeup or wear provocative clothing or other traditional women’s clothing/fashion. Or if an ad for baby food shows a man feeding the child instead of a woman. Again, I have enjoyed watching the feminist media we watched in class but most people only consume main stream media and small elements within those forms of media that break gender roles or enforce equality of women are extremely important in helping how our society needs to shift away from the oppression of women.

Posted by Rachel Lawson at 07:23 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I went into this class not knowing what to expect and I learned a lot about feminist media. To me, feminist media is anything (which may or may not claim to be feminist) that shows women in a good light and does not use them merely as sexual objects or fill-in roles with no lines. Feminist media is not necessarily media created by women. There is a lot of media out there created by women that show their sex in a degrading way. Women can be just as bad as men when it comes to unfair treatment of women. Just like in the short documentary "I Was a Teenage Feminist", women also think that feminists are just a bunch of lesbian man haters. I once told one of my male friends that I was a feminist and he rolled his eyes and made some negative comment even though he knows me and he knows that I am not like the stereotype that people see feminists as. People who support HUMAN rights are not looked upon as bad people, only the ones who support rights for the female half of the human population.
People who make media that shows women as strong, independent, worthy people are, in my opinion, making feminist media. I think that some people who make media do not want to claim the feminist viewpoint because they are afraid of what others will say about them and their media if they did. Being a feminist is a "bad" thing to be labeled today. That does not make sense because feminists are people trying to help people to all have the same rights. I will never be able to watch a movie and be blind to the stereotypes of women and minorities again. I considered myself a feminist before I took this class and I now consider myself an even stronger feminist than before.

Posted by Nicole Rutt at 01:58 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

While I think that not enough words can describe a feminist, and that defining every type of feminist would be impossible, here is my general idea of what it means to me:
Being a feminist requires a consideration for females, and an ability to understand how culture relates and reads into the variety of perceptions and views of the females and those who relate and/or identify being a member of the female gender. This can be done through gender studies, and understanding the difference between men and women and what truly is a man or woman. The next step is to identify how our gender roles are perceived through culture and society. The last step is to act upon creating an equality and appreciation of all gender types regardless of orientation and identification. So basically, a feminist is someone who recognizes gender roles and how they are percieved, and then acts upon creating a equality in society that gives mutual treatment and respect to all gender types. A feminist should not be considered a angry person, because the goal is to make a positive change. Being a feminist is being a person with intelligence. A true feminist is aware of gender, and how it affects society and culture.

Posted by Jillian Schwantz at 02:41 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

What makes a piece of media a feminist media is if it looks through a theoretical lens of analysis at gender, race, class and sexuality of women and aims to re-establish roles of women in a social or political context. A feminist piece of media also must consider the impact of intersectionality such as religion, age, class, and gender experiences in order to more completely analyze the oppression of women not just in terms of gender. I found two women filmmakers that name themselves as feminists, one woman filmmaker who I believe uses the feminist perspective in one of her films, and one vlog done by a women who clearly holds the feminist perspective.

The first women is a woman named Barbara Hammer. Hammer was born in 1939 and names herself a lesbian feminist filmmaker. A few of her films are a short entitled Dyketactics (1974), and two films entitled Women’s Rites (1974) and Tender Fictions (1995). I believe that Hammer is a feminist because she in fact states that she is a feminist filmmaker and is popular for her feminist work.

Link to Hammer’s website: http://www.barbarahammerfilms.com/

The second women is Lizzie Borden. Borden was born in 1958 and refers to herself as a feminist filmmaker. Two of Borden’s films are Born In Flames (1983) and Working Girls (1986). Borden writes and directs with feminist perspectives and aims to change women’s roles in prostitution in her film Working Girls. In the link below is an interview of Borden’s where she talks specifically about these two films and also in depth about why she herself is a feminist.

Link to Borden’s Interview: http://www.kersplebedeb.com/mystuff/video/review/lizzie_borden.html

The third women is the infamous Eve Ensler who wrote, directed and stared in the Vagina Monologues (2002). I could not find a document where Ensler states that she is a feminist but I believe that the Vagina Monologues are written from a feminist perspective in that she calls for political action in changing the sexual violence that is directed toward women and calls for the social change of the roles that these women find themselves in.

Link to Ensler’s website: http://www.randomhouse.com/features/ensler/

The vlog, which features Chelsea Steiner, is a vlog that I consider to be feminist. Steiner performs a spoken word poem at Stanford University and talks about the mix between women in pop culture and women of past political events and how meshed together create an uncertain future for feminism. Steiner further proves to speak from the feminist perspective when she at the end of her vlog asks the question “who will take feminism under their wing when I am gone?” Even though Steiner does not call herself a feminist I believe that her vlog still counts as a piece of feminist media because she talks about the social concepts of feminism.

Posted by Stephanie Scott at 05:44 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

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.

Posted by Whitney Schulte at 04:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

After contemplating this question for a while I have come up with the following: I have sort of divided the concept of feminist into two categorys. They are "feminist" and "real" feminist. A "feminist" is just someone that advocates for the equality of women and does things to uplift the representation of women in any form of media but they do not identify as a feminist. People that fit this description are people like Queen Latifah in the lyrics that she writes, or Tyra Banks on her television show, or Maya Angelou in the movie "Madea's Family Reunion", or myself. "Real" feminists are people like bell hooks and Laura Mulvey, and Iris Marion Young, etc who do all the things that "feminists" like the above do but they have also created theories and concepts and have written scholarly books and articles and critiques of the things they have seen in film and actually identify themselves as feminists. Hopefully I have made a clear distinction between the two. I consider media feminist when it specializes in the lives of women and advocate for their equality and also reveals the inequalities between men and women. I do believe that one can declare a movie feminist even though the maker him/herself does not identify or call themselves a feminist. Some films that I think are feminist are movies like "Waiting to Exhale", "What's Love Got To Do With It," "Senorita Extraviada", "Their Eyes Were Watching God," "for colored girls who have considered suicide when the rainbow is enuf", and "The Diary of a Mad Black Woman".

Posted by Alexandria Grim at 09:24 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Media is a big part of everyones lives. It is a great way for people to get their thoughts and opinions out there for everyone to see and hear. The media is a good way for feminists to show people what they believe and try and persuade them to see things their way. I don't think that you need to declare yourself as a feminist to count, I just think that you need to belive in the feminist ways and try and push or convince others into that way of thinking. I don't think that just believing in the things feminist say really means your a feminist I think you need to get out in the world and show others what feminists believe by getting involved and participating/following those beliefs. What I think makes media feminist is when it looks at the lives and experiences of women and notes the inequality between men and women socially, politically and economically. When the media looks at issues or situations that make men and women unequal and then tries to find a solution for it. I would say that Kimberly Peirce's film Boys Don't Cry is an example of a feminist film. It looks at the life of a teenage girl who wants to be a male. Throughout the movie you see how she reacts with other males when she is a male, she is one of the boys, but then when they find out that she is really female they abuse and rape her. I understand that it is a bit of a shock but she didn't need to be beat up and raped. It was amazing to see how the boys thoughts of Teena Brandon changed when they found out she was a girl, even though they knew her, hung out with her and enjoyed doing stuff together. It seems as though people think that a change in sex changes your whole personality, but there is nothing wrong, or at least I don't think, with women acting like men and men acting like women. Here is a link to Teenas mom's responses to the film about her daughter: http://www.chasingthefrog.com/reelfaces/boysdontcry.php. I do think that there is a lot of media out there that could be classified as feminist. I would say media is feminist if it deals with the lives of women or an issue of inequality between men and women.

Posted by Renee Wrobel at 12:09 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Extra Credit Post (worth 1 - 5 points):
Note: If you choose to post, please post by midnight on Sunday, December 10th (if you want to receive credit).

In this course we've done a lot of feminist analysis of media (films, TV, vlogs, images...). I'm wondering now, after all of the critique, what you believe makes media feminist? Do you have a definition that outlines what makes a film feminist? Who are some feminist film and mediamakers that you've encountered?

Does a filmmaker/mediamaker necessarily need to say "I am a feminist filmmaker..." to count? Can you declare a piece of media as feminist even if the maker doesn't articulate a feminism?

Please, list (and/or link us to) films, shows, blogs, vlogs, film and media makers that you believe are feminist.

Posted by Rae at 08:03 AM | Permalink | Comments (24)