GWSS Spring 2008 Section A

In the film The Grace Lee Project, the road is raced and gendered similarly to Searching for Angela Shelton, but with different goals, motivations and intensities. In The Grace Lee Project, Lee takes to the road to confront stereotypes of Asian-American women and why so many “Grace Lee’s” are forgotten. Lee brings light to the many pressures and stereotypes “Grace Lee’s” feel they must live up to. Failure to do so leads to consequences and harsh actions in order to accomplish such perfection. For one Grace Lee it meant setting her high school on fire in order for her immigrant parents to remain unknowledgeable to her less than perfect grades. In Searching for Angela Shelton, her quest is much more about a social issue in society that requires immediate attention to bring about change. Her documentary is about gender; the journey and aftermath of sexual abuse for women. She connects women of different races and economic backgrounds through the same struggle each had endured. In comparison, Lee illustrates the role of race in America. She looks at each Grace Lee’s class, sexual orientation underneath the stereotype that they all have. She ultimately finds an explosion of diversity under the stereotype. Lee uses the road as a means to connect women of the same race, burdened by the American stereotype of Asian women; passive, nice, shy and intelligent. As each woman continues on their journey on the road they each find their own epiphany through the women who share their name. For both documentaries it is their quest for identity. Lee steps out of the crippling stereotype that she does not fit. With her journey, she finally looks past the stereotype her name encompasses and looks at the individual similar to the Grace Lee of Detroit who is an activist for African Americans, the opposite role her name deems her as. For Angela, it is the road framed by her gender that allows for healing and strength in order to ultimately face her father and discover closure within herself. Ultimately, both documentaries show the struggle women go through for a self-identity whether it be from years of sexual abuse or a name that stereotypes an entire race of women.

Posted by michael scott at 11:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Although Searching for Angela Shelton and the Grace Lee projects are both films about women attempting to find others of the same name across the United States, you would be hard pressed in finding someone to say that they are similar films both stylistically and by the purpose being aimed at. The Grace Lee Project was more of a fun project for her in her attempts to find people with her name. I am not making light of stereotyping as I personally despise stereotyping for the most part and believe that everyone is entitled to be their own person, but if you were to look up someone with the same name as myself, I would not be shocked to find a bunch of Norwegians guys probably with close to the same background culturally as myself going along with traditions of my own culture and strengths of my own culture much like she found. I think if you wanted to face stereotyping, you should go beyond your name and possibly to a race as a whole. Angela Shelton faced a certain problem and didn't really deny that, a very serious problem. I believe the use of the name in this film was simply as a catylist to put her on the road as I'm sure she could find enough women in her area who were victims of sexual abuse. The road was freeing for Angela Shelton, it was a way to let go to find people in the exact same circumstances down to the name to help her let go of the pain her father caused her. The road in Grace Lee was rarely used, it could have just as well done in one city and nobody would really know. She used the internet and potentially used that "road" although I would claim there are many limitations to that analogy. As far as race versus road goes, I would say Grace Lee was a race to find people like her in attempts to not find people like her and Angela Shelton was about the road, the letting go process.

Posted by fairb076 at 10:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I think the most distinguishable way in which "the road" was used and differed in the films Searching for Angela Shelton and The Grace Lee Project is in terms of broadness. Angela Shelton's film starts out with a very broad goal, the road being a place on which we're not sure what is to come, and some of the people have the theme in common, while others simply share a name. The film then narrows as we see less growth and more repetition of theme, as well as a narrowing goal that ends up being a self-healing trip. Grace Lee takes a different turn in that her film starts out very narrowly and moves out to a broader vision as the film progresses. This seems very intentional. Lee has qualms about the connotations that come along with her name. Rightfully so, as she presents many examples of who 'Grace Lee' is to people that know someone with the name. She goes on the hunt with a very narrow classification of what she is looking for and expecting, but we can see as an audience that this will not be the end result, and Lee obviously suspects as much.

Lee's road is "raced" in that she is tracking down not only a certain race, but she is following the preconceived notion that these women of this particular race also fit into many other categories together. As the film broadens, we see examples that diminish this stereotype. Lee encounters women of all careers, life experiences, locations, and lifestyles. Even when presented with a Grace Lee that does, indeed, fit the stereotype the film began with, her encounters with these women show us that the little intricacies of individuals and their experiences completely throw overbearing generalizations out the window. In comparison, Angela Shelton does little to use the road as a tool to show individual differences, but her goal is more to unite women under a common thread of experience. As a goal, this works, but her road is much more of a string on uniting and grouping together, while Grace Lee's road unites at the same time as separating as a means to show individuality. Hence, the narrow to broad notion, versus the broad to narrow notion.

Posted by bjor0253 at 08:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The Grace Lee project was quite literally a quest for finding individuality within a mass of: 5'3, black haired, combination skinned, 3.5 years worth of piano playing Asian girls who happen to be homogenized into the A-typical "Grace Lee". While in the documentary Searching for Angela Shelton the road functioned as a "road to self discovery". In searching for Angela Shelton the road acts as a surfacing agent to her dark and disturbed past. The road in this film is certainly more gendered, as Angela brings attention to the issue of women's abuse. For Angela, the journey is less about the other woman in the film and more about her finding herself through their stories. The Grace Lee project contains less of a road to self discovery, and more as a way of breaking racial stereotypes (or in some cases reinforcing). The breaking of these stereotypes at first is confirmed in the case of the Grace Lee who tried to burn down her school, but then is later reinforced when we learn of her motive: the over burdening stress of living up to the stereotypical expectations of Asians in America (amazing grades, kind, reserved). In this sense, the road for 2nd generation Asian Americans the road almost functions as a race, who will get to the top the fastest. The Grace Lee project began as a way for Grace Lee to differentiate herself from the other GL's of the world, which she did by focusing on their stories rather than her own. The journey taken in both of these films shares some sort of abuse from society and subsequently, the tragic effects it has on its victims.

Posted by MsEdieSedgwick at 05:23 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I thought the two movies were very different in their use of the road. In "Searching for Angela Shelton" Angela used the road much more aggressively, by seeking out the stories of other Angela Sheltons. We see this in Angela's persistence in getting other Angela Shelton's to talk to her, and her "forcing" them to talk about their experience with abuse and rape. On the other hand, Grace Lee seemed to use the road as much more of a background to the story. Only using it as a response to her finding of all the other Grace Lees. Grace did by no means want to interview all of the other Grace Lees, nor did she seek out a specific story from them, as Angela did. Grace let the women's different stories be the focus of the film. Angela's quest was more centered around a certain issue (her own abuse)- Angela was trying to find similarity, while Grace's quest was much more open to possibility- Grace was trying to find difference. Both of these filmmakers do a good job creating a female-centered film, free completely from the male gaze. The road seemed only gendered in that it is genderless- it is not male or female terrain- it is simply a prop in the broader story of the female experience.

Posted by Kia Heise at 11:55 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

In “Searching for Angela Shelton,” the filmmaker Angela Shelton embarked on a quest to find other women across the country who shared her name and, surprisingly, her story of abuse. And in order to highlight her subjects’ similarities, Shelton purposefully ignored a few obvious differences. Though she makes a point to mention that half of her Angela Sheltons are black and half are white, race never really surfaces as a central theme. Unlike “Searching for Angela Shelton,” “The Grace Lee Project” worked to discover and eventually celebrate the differences among a group of name-sharing women, many of whom happen to be Asian-Americans. Instead of zeroing in on one or two aspects of her interviewee’s lives, she allowed them to direct how their stories would ultimately be told. Both filmmakers used “the road” as a means to connect to other women with whom they have ties, and both returned home having been changed by their experiences. One difference between the two, however, is that Grace Lee intended to "race" the road, morphing her quest into a search for the nature of Asian-American womanhood as filtered through the name Grace Lee. Though “The Grace Lee Project” did not have as intentional a message, it was easier and more enjoyable to watch. The stories of these Grace Lees were told much more in depth, rather than provoked out of them by a filmmaker using her subjects’ stories to tell her own. The big difference between the two? Angela Shelton tries to prove that we ARE all the same (“We are all Angela Shelton”) and that we must come together as one entity. On the other hand, Grace Lee is trying to dispose of the stereotypes that hound many of her subjects; to show that, despite certain similarities, they are NOT all the same, and that our individualities as American women are things to be preserved.

Posted by gost0008 at 11:48 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

When watching both The Grace Lee Project and Searching for Angela Shelton, it was obvious that both films were a little biased in terms of race. When GRace Lee was interviewing people about other Grace Lees they knew, the amount of stereotypical answers that were given for Asian American women was astonishing and sort of revolting. It seemed to me that the people asked about Grace Lees obviously had no relationship with them whatsoever and were kind of ingnorant. Both films dealt mainly in terms of their own race (Asian American, and Caucasian or African American). Latino Americans were strictly exempt; some could say that had to do with each person's name, however as a group of people, Latinos were excluded. Also notable was the fact that with Grace Lee, her road trip primarily contained women and her goal in the film was about finding the differences and uniqueness in each Grace Lee. More in Angela Shelton's case, men drove the road. Angela was searching for her own identity and was trying to unite women in finding similarities, I believe that her main goal was to find forgiveness from her father, an abuser, and he was the main driving force in the film. It was a nice contrast in seeing both films because although they had seemingly similar purposes, in terms of identities, the women were starkly night and day which greatly added to each film giving them much individuality.

Posted by hybe0005 at 11:28 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

In Searching for Angela Shelton Angela's quest aimed to find women across the United States who shared her story. She pushed the similarities between the women and ignored their differences such as race and class. Unlike Searching for Angela Shelton , The Grace Lee Project celebrated and worked to discover the differences amongst all of the Grace Lees. Grace Lee didn't focus on one aspect of her subjects' lives, instead, she allowed them to choose what viewers would know about them and how they wanted their stories to be told. Angela Shelton focused only on abuse and in the end, it was what defined the lives of all of the Angela Sheltons.
In both films, the gender of the road is female. Neither road is really classed. Though half of the Angela Sheltons are white and half are black, race doesn't reveal itself as a central theme to the story. Grace Lee focuses mostly on Asian Americans. In general, race is the only thing that the Grace Lees share.

Posted by chri1645 at 11:25 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

In both personal quest documentaries, The Grace Lee Project and Searching for Angela Shelton, the women traveled in search of answers. Grace Lee went in search of finding what’s in a name, and the identity associated with a specific name. Angela Shelton searched for something else. Angela’s “quest” was to meet other Angela Sheltons, and ironically a majority of these other Angelas had suffered abuse as well. Grace Lee and Angela Shelton used “the “road” as a means to connect to other women whom they have similarities. Both women returned home having been changed and expanded their horizons by “the road.” While both women used “the road” to fulfill their “quests,” one difference between the films is that Grace Lee uses The Digital Road to connect and select which women would be in her film. Angela used the telephone, which limited the woman that could and would appear in her film. In regards to how each woman “raced” “the road,” Angela said she was trying to “represent America” through the “half black and half white” women whom appeared in her film. Grace Lee, on the other had “raced” “the road” with “the quest” in search of Asian American Womanhood through the name of Grace Lee. A unique aspect to Grace Lee’s road is the element of a The Diasporic Road. Grace Lee searched for unique other Grace Lees and a majority happened to be children of immigrants, generally from Korea. Both women presented “the road” as female gendered. Grace Lee featured for smart women, but didn’t apply any sexuality to the film through the use of the camera. Angela was quite often the main image in her film. She sexualized herself in the scene where she puts her head out the window of the RV. Both women produced very interesting personal documentaries in which the road was used to connect woman with similarities. “The road” was “gendered“ and “raced” by both women, just with different races.

Posted by blac0268 at 11:03 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

By having such a common name, you have to define yourself in another way.

Searching for Angela Shelton and The Grace Lee Project both have many similarities and differences. The road for both of these movies was not the main aspect of the film. The road was simply a way for all of these people to come together. The quest for both of these movies were different. The Grace Lee Project was focused more on finding differences among the Grace Lee's and Searching for Angela Shelton focused on uniting the Angela's and women of the world together.

The two movies were both based around women. However, in the Grace Lee Project the females were all Asian Americans. It was interesting to see how one particular name could be some dominant in a culture.

The two stories of Angela and Grace really interested me. What better way to tell your story than to hit the road in search of yourself. I really enjoyed both of the films.

Posted by jone1042 at 10:55 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The stories of the women in The Grace Lee Project were much more indepth, and the women were truly allowed to share their stories. Angela Shelton kind of used the womens' stories to get her own told. Grace Lee was much more interested in hearing and telling the story of other Grace Lee's around the country. Though her movie did not have as clear or powerful message, I thought it was easier and more enjoyable to watch. For the use of the camera, I would have to say that Angie's film appeared more professionally done. Though she did abuse her camera power in ways that Grace Lee did not. Grace's film almost seemed like it could be done by anyone, which Angie's didn't. The message that came across was much lighter and easier to process. There was not as much movement, and scrambling of stories which helped the viewer follow it easier.

Posted by Mrs. Brad Pitt at 10:26 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

When I realized for the second week in a row we were going to be watching another documentary based somewhat around a name, I slightly cringed. I knew a little about both Searching for Angela Shelton and The Grace Lee Project before watching them in class, but my assumptions were wrong. I thought that both films were triumphant, change the way women think about feminism movies. After watching these two films, I realized how much they varied.

The road and quest in Searching for Angela Shelton seems to be centered about the director. She uses and abuses the camera and takes away from what the film could be. She uses tactics that tailor EVERY story of an Angela Shelton around her own. The quest is supposed to be used as a passage for recovery. It ends up leaving open wounds, unanswered questions, and a bitter after taste.

As for The Grace Lee Project, her attempts to search out individuals seem much more sincere than Shelton’s. She uses the road to simply learn. It seems that her she had no ultimate goal in this film and thus it wasn’t tailored to one subject. Instead of finding out everything about the original Grace Lee, we learn about many different Grace Lee’s and their similarities. Grace Lee and Angela Shelton both abuse their use of the camera, because they can. But they do it in different ways. Grace Lee seems to not care about herself throughout the film as in Angela Shelton. Although both are looking to “find themselves” on the road, it’s as if you forget about this task in The Grace Lee Project. Instead you start to indulge yourself in the lives of others and learn a thing or two. Angela Shelton’s task is definitely known throughout the entirety of the film and is instilled into your brain about her goals.

I think the true difference between The Grace Lee Project and Searching for Angela Shelton is the Grace Lee tries to rid the stereotypes of typical young Asian women. It seems that Grace Lee is trying to show that although many of these women are alike, they are NOT just the smart, reserved, pretty girls. Grace Lee shows that people are not one dimensional, which Angela Shelton almost tries to do the opposite. It seems to me that Angela Shelton is trying to prove that we are all the same and we must come together as one. Grace Lee is showing that individuality is beautiful.

The road in The Grace Lee Project is definitely gendered AND raced. For example, throughout the film Grace Lee does various quirky animations of the typical Asian. She shows different various stereotypical statistics and also asks citizens about the Grace Lee that they know. Most of the people say the same thing about each Grace Lee. This shows that the stereotype of this race of girls is known throughout many communities. It also shows that Grace Lee’s are raced and profiled. Grace Lee continuously gets told by other Grace Lee’s the pressure to meet these almost impossible expectations. Searching for Angela Shelton is also gendered and raced. Shelton tries to find many different people with her name, and finds African Americans and Caucasian Americans. It’s funny that how this film uses these two races to prove they are not being race oriented, but never hit any other races. Angela Shelton also focuses her film around the woman. She is consumed with trying to convince women to take a stand. Although there are extremely nice and caring men throughout the film, it seems that they could be an underlying tone of the anti-male throughout the film.

Posted by lil suzy greenburg at 09:55 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

When I realized for the second week in a row we were going to be watching another documentary based somewhat around a name, I slightly cringed. I knew a little about both Searching for Angela Shelton and The Grace Lee Project before watching them in class, but my assumptions were wrong. I thought that both films were triumphant, change the way women think about feminism movies. After watching these two films, I realized how much they varied.

The road and quest in Searching for Angela Shelton seems to be centered about the director. She uses and abuses the camera and takes away from what the film could be. She uses tactics that tailor EVERY story of an Angela Shelton around her own. The quest is supposed to be used as a passage for recovery. It ends up leaving open wounds, unanswered questions, and a bitter after taste.

As for The Grace Lee Project, her attempts to search out individuals seem much more sincere than Shelton’s. She uses the road to simply learn. It seems that her she had no ultimate goal in this film and thus it wasn’t tailored to one subject. Instead of finding out everything about the original Grace Lee, we learn about many different Grace Lee’s and their similarities. Grace Lee and Angela Shelton both abuse their use of the camera, because they can. But they do it in different ways. Grace Lee seems to not care about herself throughout the film as in Angela Shelton. Although both are looking to “find themselves” on the road, it’s as if you forget about this task in The Grace Lee Project. Instead you start to indulge yourself in the lives of others and learn a thing or two. Angela Shelton’s task is definitely known throughout the entirety of the film and is instilled into your brain about her goals.

I think the true difference between The Grace Lee Project and Searching for Angela Shelton is the Grace Lee tries to rid the stereotypes of typical young Asian women. It seems that Grace Lee is trying to show that although many of these women are alike, they are NOT just the smart, reserved, pretty girls. Grace Lee shows that people are not one dimensional, which Angela Shelton almost tries to do the opposite. It seems to me that Angela Shelton is trying to prove that we are all the same and we must come together as one. Grace Lee is showing that individuality is beautiful.

The road in The Grace Lee Project is definitely gendered AND raced. For example, throughout the film Grace Lee does various quirky animations of the typical Asian. She shows different various stereotypical statistics and also asks citizens about the Grace Lee that they know. Most of the people say the same thing about each Grace Lee. This shows that the stereotype of this race of girls is known throughout many communities. It also shows that Grace Lee’s are raced and profiled. Grace Lee continuously gets told by other Grace Lee’s the pressure to meet these almost impossible expectations. Searching for Angela Shelton is also gendered and raced. Shelton tries to find many different people with her name, and finds African Americans and Caucasian Americans. It’s funny that how this film uses these two races to prove they are not being race oriented, but never hit any other races. Angela Shelton also focuses her film around the woman. She is consumed with trying to convince women to take a stand. Although there are extremely nice and caring men throughout the film, it seems that they could be an underlying tone of the anti-male throughout the film.

Posted by lil suzy greenburg at 09:50 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Searching For Angela Shelton and The Grace Lee Project were both similar and different filmes in respect to each other. They were both documentaries about their lives in a sense, and they both featured the main actress traveling the world to find as many women as they could with their same names. However, I thought that Searching For Angela Shelton had more of a purpose to the film. It seemed as if Angela Shelton was looking for closure through all of the women that she met and wanted to get her story out there so that other women knew there was a way out if they were suffering from any of the same issues as Angela did. The Grace Lee Project just seemed to be a woman named Grace Lee looking for other women named Grace Lee and hearing their stories. There was no mention of alcohol or physical abuse in the Grace Lee film whereas, in the Angela Shelton film, it seemed to be the topic of conversation. With the gender and race topic, I felt that the Angela Shelton film was more focused on gender and not so much race and the Grace Lee film was more focused on race. Both films emphasized how and what women, with the same names as them, were feeling about their lives and wanting to hear their stories.

Posted by Alias22 at 08:22 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

When we talk about race in regards to both films, one might concluded that Grace Lee Project dealt with race more aggressively compared to Angela Shelton because she focus more on herself with the exception of a few black women. I find this to be problematic because many times within discussions about race “white” or Caucasian goes unmarked as a race and becomes the norm. This is dangerous because one needs to look at whiteness/ white privilege when talking about race dynamics/relations. When I am viewing a film that deals with one specific race and/or gender—I always view it knowing the background on which it sits. Whiteness and masculinity become the background. In the Grace Lee Project she interviews many people who have known a Grace Lee and they all come up with the same attributions: quiet, nice, intelligent, musical, beautiful, etc. And even at one point Grace Lee says something to the effect, “they all started looking the same, I couldn’t tell the difference”. I would have to say that both of those statements are very stereotypical for Asian women, as though a race can be easily be defined across the board. Yet every woman, even Grace Lee herself, tried to fight against these stereotypes and not let her “Asian” skin define her. I believe this goes back to living in a world where whiteness/white privilege goes unmarked, thus not allowing responsibility to fall where it should. I will provide a link to Peggy McIntosh paper on white privilege to give everyone a clear understanding of what it means.

Posted by ernst081 at 08:14 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Searching for Angela Shelton and the Grace Lee Project are both films where women take to the road in search for something meaningful in their life. Angela Shelton is looking for closure in her life in relation childhood abuse and incest, whlie Grace Lee is looking for answers in relation to her name and what it means to be an Asian-American women in the United States and the stereotypes related to it.

In both films, the women are doing the "driving" of both the road and the actual film and in this way they are breaking away from the idea of the male protagonist being on the road. The road for both Grace and Angela involves race. Grace Lee specifically looks at race and it is the central factor that brings her to these specific women. The one thing that Grace Lee does not do which creates a "raced" film is that she does not account for the Grace Lees who are not Asian American women. She does not mention the possibility of women of other races marrying into the last name. In Angela Shelton's film forgets about Angela Sheltons who are not black or white. In this way, the road is raced because women who are not of the majority race(s) contained by the film are left out and are not told.

Posted by Jean at 09:07 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

In both Searching for Angela Shelton and The Grace Lee Project, the filmmakers use the road as a tool to guide them on their quest for some sort of identity. I felt that Angela Shelton's quest was more about self discovery through relating her story to all of the other Angelas', and facing her father to gain closure about her past. Grace Lee seemed to have a greater sense of who she was, and she wanted to reassure her identity through meeting other Grace Lee's and contrasting their different stories. The road is "raced" in The Grace Lee Project in that most of the Graces are Asian American, and the film dealt with people's views of the Grace Lee's they knew. The road is "gendered" in both films in that they are both about women searching for some sort of identity through meeting other women and extending their stories to women in general.

Posted by kieff060 at 08:32 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

In "Searching for Angela Shelton" the road is more of a focal point. It is right there as part of the story and part of the emotional journey. The whole "road trip" itself is focused on quite a bit in the movie, whether it be by shots of road signs or Angela moving the RV around on a map of the United States. In "The Grace Lee Project" however the road is barely seen. Instead the quest of finding the other women named Grace Lee is focused on. The journey is much more internal with no external or physical road representing it.

In both movies the road is gendered simply by the fact that it is women traveling the road to find other women. At the same time the road seems gendered to a greater degree in "Searching for Angela Shelton". Angela talks almost exclusively with women and shows very few men unless they are being confronted. The film and therefore the road in the movie is definitively dominated by women. In "The Grace Lee Project" however the road and journey seem less gendered because she talks to men quite often. She asks their opinions of the women named Grace Lee and gets lots of information from them and they are treated as equals, not as abusers.

"The Grace Lee Project" is much more raced. Every woman with the name Grace Lee was Asian and even many of the men Grace talked to were Asian. She focused quite a bit on the fact that all of these women are Asian and causes the road to become raced. In "Searching for Angela Shelton" on the other hand she makes a point that the women are of more than one race. Angela seems to purposely un-race the road by making it a point that she is speaking with black women as well as white. She also does not mention any stereotypes based on race as Grace does.

Posted by Tucsonhorse at 08:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Both documentaries capture two filmmakers on the road to search for something. In The Grace Lee Project she wanted to understand the stereotype for Grace Lee's as well as find anyone who broke the predetermined personality and behavior of a Grace Lee. In Searching for Angela Shelton she found similarities almost on accident between all of the Angela Shelton's in the country. In this specific documentary the road was used as a healing device whereas in The Grace Lee Project, you hardly notice the road at all. The goal is more about listening to the different women's stories. It is more about seeing and celebrating the differences of their lives, yet finding similar characteristics among them. The Grace Lee Project is definitely more light-hearted and less serious than Angela's documentary. For example even when discussing the Grace Lee who attempted to burn her high school down, funny cartoons are added to the screen. In The Grace Lee Project it is more so understood that she traveled to the different Grace Lee's and it is spoken about that no matter where in the world one is, there usually will be a Grace Lee that someone knows.

In Searching for Angela Shelton the women she speaks to are both Caucasian and African-American. Though she only interviews women, their conversations involve men. In The Grace Lee Project she also targets women, and it is focused on Asian-American women. Also, she interviews men in terms of those that have known a Grace Lee or what they think of when asked to describe and Asian female.

Posted by boli0066 at 08:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Searching for Angela Shelton is a quest for closure. Angela is picking up the pieces both of her life and the women she is interviewing and trying to piece them together. There is an inward movement in the film as Angela tries to relate her experience with incest and molestation with the other women around her. She takes the stories of all these women and creates an overlaying template for violence against women and their reactions to it. This differs form The Grace Lee Project which is more interested in observation and description. The film is an analysis of the asian american womens stereotype. By interviewing a select few Grace Lees she accentuates the strengths, weakness, commonalities and differences between them. Grace Lee's approach to her film give us real people, while Angela Shelton gives us caricatures of women by ignoring the other aspects of the women.

Posted by herre050 at 08:19 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Its funny how two movies with a similar gimmick can reap such different products. In Finding Angela Shelton, the use of a common name brings together a group of women of various race, class, and geographical location. However, the focus of the film shifts from the commonality they all share, to the process that Angela goes through in order to find closure. Angela shies away from showcasing each women as one related to her race or class, instead choosing the highlight the ways in which the women conform a story of abuse. The road becomes a way in which victims reach out to one another (or how one victim in particular reaches out to others). Angela's quest becomes extremely gendered, with women propelling and explaining the narrative. Angela focuses on each women's relationships with men (primarily those involving abuse), rape experiences, and their struggle to push through the trauma of abuse. Although race is mentioned, it the a crusade for women's recovery, the "quest", that drives Angela.

The Grace Lee Project operates under the same premise of gathering individuals together using a very common name, however the road is employed to find answers concerning the dichotomy between individuality and conformity. Grace attempts to both disprove the sameness of the typical "Grace Lee", while simultaneously pointing out the uncanny similarities of each women. The road becomes both an invisible (in the case of the internet) and visible (highway/plane/etc) network to connect individuals who share the same name and race. Although there were Grace Lees who were not Asian, the Grace does not use the road to reach them. The road does become "raced", due to Grace's specific focus on the Asian Grace Lee. Although the Lees are all women, this is not the focus of the "quest", but merely incidental.

Both films use an 'identity' bestowed upon an individual at birth: the name. However each film narrows the purpose and focus of the quest by choosing to highlight another aspect of identity: gender and race. Each of these is unalterable (unlike a name), and determines much more of the outcome of your life than a name. Perhaps this is why each director chose to hone in on another aspect of identity. They came to understand how these aspects define the direction of one's line (and their particular journey) much more than a title.

Posted by labo0056 at 05:23 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

In both films, Searching for Angela Shelton and The Grace Lee Project, the main quest on the road for both films is a personal quest. For Angela Shelton, it is the personal quest to find closure with her past, and for Grace Lee, a personal quest to find a true identity among the similarity of a name. Both filmmakers use the film to connect women through the common name they all hold, however, both use that starting point to take drastic paths to tell a story. For Angela Shelton, the road is used as a connective tool to unite those Angela Shelton’s who have been abused, and the quest on the road to connect a name takes a different turn for Grace Lee, who uses the road to unify stories that create uniqueness for those who share the name Grace Lee. Angela Shelton focuses more on her own personal struggles and need to recover within her quest on the road, whereas Grace Lee goes on a quest to find out the stories behind the many people named Grace Lee. Being a Documentary, from a film analysis and studies point of view, the camera and viewpoint/perspective used within both films, in my opinion, have no gender or race. That being said, Angela Shelton’s film has a more female gender to it, being a female made the film and emphasized females within her film, than a male perspective. Within The Grace Lee Project on the other hand, also had a small emphasis on the female mainly by having all the people she talked to were female, but there was also a ‘raced’ viewpoint, which would be a Asian viewpoint. Being Grace Lee put out stereotypes of typical ‘Asian women’ and focused solely on Asian women within her film caused a ‘raced’ perspective.

Posted by Starbuck at 09:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The use of the road in "Angela" was a quest to find peace from her abuse by meeting other Angelas and telling her story, hearing there stories and making generalizations about a heterosexual Caucassion and African American women. She found peace in sharing her story. Grace Lee felt that most Grace Lee's in the world were unimpressionable and forgettable. She used her road to set out on a quest to find out why Grace Lee has been stereotyped this way, and also find the impressionable Grace Lee's of the world. This road differed from Angela's because it contained a specific race (Korean Americans) it was also slighty gendered because of the lesbian activist Grace Lee mentioned in the film. I think that the Grace Lee project was a better film and contains some great insightful thoughts. Not only is Grace Lee considered same, but a lot of us in the world are considered same. We have to search deep and throughly to find and appriciate uniqueness within eachother.

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"How did I end up with the name that made me the loser in a sorority of super agents?" (Grace Lee).
Both Angela Shelton and Grace Lee set out on personal quests to find themselves in their films: Angela Shelton to face her dark and abusive past, and Grace Lee to try and find some uniqueness behind her common name. Angela used the road as a way to connect women. She found as many women as she could with her name and set out to unite them all in their experiences and names. Angela's road was a very self-involved one. Even though she set out with the pretense of finding solidarity and a united front among women, she used the road and the women she encountered to fuel her own journey to facing her dark past. Her interviews were riddled with self-absorbed interjections, and every Angela she met was used in comparison to her own story. Grace Lee's goal was simple: to find out what women with the name, Grace Lee, were like. She used the road as a way to find unique qualities in women, rather than lumping them together in one group. Unlike Angela, Grace's interactions with the women were selfless: she intently listened to each of their stories without interjecting herself. She listened, and learned, whereas Angela listened and imposed herself.

Continue reading "Grace vs Angela" »

Posted by Bonnie and Louise at 12:53 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

"How did I end up with the name that made me the loser in a sorority of super agents?" (Grace Lee).
Both Angela Shelton and Grace Lee set out on personal quests to find themselves in their films: Angela Shelton to face her dark and abusive past, and Grace Lee to try and find some uniqueness behind her common name. Angela used the road as a way to connect women. She found as many women as she could with her name and set out to unite them all in their experiences and names. Angela's road was a very self-involved one. Even though she set out with the pretense of finding solidarity and a united front among women, she used the road and the women she encountered to fuel her own journey to facing her dark past. Her interviews were riddled with self-absorbed interjections, and every Angela she met was used in comparison to her own story. Grace Lee's goal was simple: to find out what women with the name, Grace Lee, were like. She used the road as a way to find unique qualities in women, rather than lumping them together in one group. Unlike Angela, Grace's interactions with the women were selfless: she intently listened to each of their stories without interjecting herself. She listened, and learned, whereas Angela listened and imposed herself.

Continue reading "Grace vs Angela" »

Posted by Bonnie and Louise at 12:53 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

"How did I end up with the name that made me the loser in a sorority of super agents?" (Grace Lee).
Both Angela Shelton and Grace Lee set out on personal quests to find themselves in their films: Angela Shelton to face her dark and abusive past, and Grace Lee to try and find some uniqueness behind her common name. Angela used the road as a way to connect women. She found as many women as she could with her name and set out to unite them all in their experiences and names. Angela's road was a very self-involved one. Even though she set out with the pretense of finding solidarity and a united front among women, she used the road and the women she encountered to fuel her own journey to facing her dark past. Her interviews were riddled with self-absorbed interjections, and every Angela she met was used in comparison to her own story. Grace Lee's goal was simple: to find out what women with the name, Grace Lee, were like. She used the road as a way to find unique qualities in women, rather than lumping them together in one group. Unlike Angela, Grace's interactions with the women were selfless: she intently listened to each of their stories without interjecting herself. She listened, and learned, whereas Angela listened and imposed herself.

Continue reading "Grace vs Angela" »

Posted by Bonnie and Louise at 12:53 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

"How did I end up with the name that made me the loser in a sorority of super agents?" (Grace Lee).
Both Angela Shelton and Grace Lee set out on personal quests to find themselves in their films: Angela Shelton to face her dark and abusive past, and Grace Lee to try and find some uniqueness behind her common name. Angela used the road as a way to connect women. She found as many women as she could with her name and set out to unite them all in their experiences and names. Angela's road was a very self-involved one. Even though she set out with the pretense of finding solidarity and a united front among women, she used the road and the women she encountered to fuel her own journey to facing her dark past. Her interviews were riddled with self-absorbed interjections, and every Angela she met was used in comparison to her own story. Grace Lee's goal was simple: to find out what women with the name, Grace Lee, were like. She used the road as a way to find unique qualities in women, rather than lumping them together in one group. Unlike Angela, Grace's interactions with the women were selfless: she intently listened to each of their stories without interjecting herself. She listened, and learned, whereas Angela listened and imposed herself.

Continue reading "Grace vs Angela" »

Posted by Bonnie and Louise at 12:53 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

"How did I end up with the name that made me the loser in a sorority of super agents?" (Grace Lee).
Both Angela Shelton and Grace Lee set out on personal quests to find themselves in their films: Angela Shelton to face her dark and abusive past, and Grace Lee to try and find some uniqueness behind her common name. Angela used the road as a way to connect women. She found as many women as she could with her name and set out to unite them all in their experiences and names. Angela's road was a very self-involved one. Even though she set out with the pretense of finding solidarity and a united front among women, she used the road and the women she encountered to fuel her own journey to facing her dark past. Her interviews were riddled with self-absorbed interjections, and every Angela she met was used in comparison to her own story. Grace Lee's goal was simple: to find out what women with the name, Grace Lee, were like. She used the road as a way to find unique qualities in women, rather than lumping them together in one group. Unlike Angela, Grace's interactions with the women were selfless: she intently listened to each of their stories without interjecting herself. She listened, and learned, whereas Angela listened and imposed herself.

Continue reading "Grace vs Angela" »

Posted by Bonnie and Louise at 12:53 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

"How did I end up with the name that made me the loser in a sorority of super agents?" (Grace Lee).
Both Angela Shelton and Grace Lee set out on personal quests to find themselves in their films: Angela Shelton to face her dark and abusive past, and Grace Lee to try and find some uniqueness behind her common name. Angela used the road as a way to connect women. She found as many women as she could with her name and set out to unite them all in their experiences and names. Angela's road was a very self-involved one. Even though she set out with the pretense of finding solidarity and a united front among women, she used the road and the women she encountered to fuel her own journey to facing her dark past. Her interviews were riddled with self-absorbed interjections, and every Angela she met was used in comparison to her own story. Grace Lee's goal was simple: to find out what women with the name, Grace Lee, were like. She used the road as a way to find unique qualities in women, rather than lumping them together in one group. Unlike Angela, Grace's interactions with the women were selfless: she intently listened to each of their stories without interjecting herself. She listened, and learned, whereas Angela listened and imposed herself.

Continue reading "Grace vs Angela" »

Posted by Bonnie and Louise at 12:53 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

"How did I end up with the name that made me the loser in a sorority of super agents?" (Grace Lee).
Both Angela Shelton and Grace Lee set out on personal quests to find themselves in their films: Angela Shelton to face her dark and abusive past, and Grace Lee to try and find some uniqueness behind her common name. Angela used the road as a way to connect women. She found as many women as she could with her name and set out to unite them all in their experiences and names. Angela's road was a very self-involved one. Even though she set out with the pretense of finding solidarity and a united front among women, she used the road and the women she encountered to fuel her own journey to facing her dark past. Her interviews were riddled with self-absorbed interjections, and every Angela she met was used in comparison to her own story. Grace Lee's goal was simple: to find out what women with the name, Grace Lee, were like. She used the road as a way to find unique qualities in women, rather than lumping them together in one group. Unlike Angela, Grace's interactions with the women were selfless: she intently listened to each of their stories without interjecting herself. She listened, and learned, whereas Angela listened and imposed herself.

Continue reading "Grace vs Angela" »

Posted by Bonnie and Louise at 12:53 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

"How did I end up with the name that made me the loser in a sorority of super agents?" (Grace Lee).
Both Angela Shelton and Grace Lee set out on personal quests to find themselves in their films: Angela Shelton to face her dark and abusive past, and Grace Lee to try and find some uniqueness behind her common name. Angela used the road as a way to connect women. She found as many women as she could with her name and set out to unite them all in their experiences and names. Angela's road was a very self-involved one. Even though she set out with the pretense of finding solidarity and a united front among women, she used the road and the women she encountered to fuel her own journey to facing her dark past. Her interviews were riddled with self-absorbed interjections, and every Angela she met was used in comparison to her own story. Grace Lee's goal was simple: to find out what women with the name, Grace Lee, were like. She used the road as a way to find unique qualities in women, rather than lumping them together in one group. Unlike Angela, Grace's interactions with the women were selfless: she intently listened to each of their stories without interjecting herself. She listened, and learned, whereas Angela listened and imposed herself.

Continue reading "Grace vs Angela" »

Posted by Bonnie and Louise at 12:53 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

"How did I end up with the name that made me the loser in a sorority of super agents?" (Grace Lee).
Both Angela Shelton and Grace Lee set out on personal quests to find themselves in their films: Angela Shelton to face her dark and abusive past, and Grace Lee to try and find some uniqueness behind her common name. Angela used the road as a way to connect women. She found as many women as she could with her name and set out to unite them all in their experiences and names. Angela's road was a very self-involved one. Even though she set out with the pretense of finding solidarity and a united front among women, she used the road and the women she encountered to fuel her own journey to facing her dark past. Her interviews were riddled with self-absorbed interjections, and every Angela she met was used in comparison to her own story. Grace Lee's goal was simple: to find out what women with the name, Grace Lee, were like. She used the road as a way to find unique qualities in women, rather than lumping them together in one group. Unlike Angela, Grace's interactions with the women were selfless: she intently listened to each of their stories without interjecting herself. She listened, and learned, whereas Angela listened and imposed herself.

Continue reading "Grace vs Angela" »

Posted by Bonnie and Louise at 12:53 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

"How did I end up with the name that made me the loser in a sorority of super agents?" (Grace Lee).
Both Angela Shelton and Grace Lee set out on personal quests to find themselves in their films: Angela Shelton to face her dark and abusive past, and Grace Lee to try and find some uniqueness behind her common name. Angela used the road as a way to connect women. She found as many women as she could with her name and set out to unite them all in their experiences and names. Angela's road was a very self-involved one. Even though she set out with the pretense of finding solidarity and a united front among women, she used the road and the women she encountered to fuel her own journey to facing her dark past. Her interviews were riddled with self-absorbed interjections, and every Angela she met was used in comparison to her own story. Grace Lee's goal was simple: to find out what women with the name, Grace Lee, were like. She used the road as a way to find unique qualities in women, rather than lumping them together in one group. Unlike Angela, Grace's interactions with the women were selfless: she intently listened to each of their stories without interjecting herself. She listened, and learned, whereas Angela listened and imposed herself.

Continue reading "Grace vs Angela" »

Posted by Bonnie and Louise at 12:53 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

"How did I end up with the name that made me the loser in a sorority of super agents?" (Grace Lee).
Both Angela Shelton and Grace Lee set out on personal quests to find themselves in their films: Angela Shelton to face her dark and abusive past, and Grace Lee to try and find some uniqueness behind her common name. Angela used the road as a way to connect women. She found as many women as she could with her name and set out to unite them all in their experiences and names. Angela's road was a very self-involved one. Even though she set out with the pretense of finding solidarity and a united front among women, she used the road and the women she encountered to fuel her own journey to facing her dark past. Her interviews were riddled with self-absorbed interjections, and every Angela she met was used in comparison to her own story. Grace Lee's goal was simple: to find out what women with the name, Grace Lee, were like. She used the road as a way to find unique qualities in women, rather than lumping them together in one group. Unlike Angela, Grace's interactions with the women were selfless: she intently listened to each of their stories without interjecting herself. She listened, and learned, whereas Angela listened and imposed herself.

Continue reading "Grace vs Angela" »

Posted by Bonnie and Louise at 12:53 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

"How did I end up with the name that made me the loser in a sorority of super agents?" (Grace Lee).
Both Angela Shelton and Grace Lee set out on personal quests to find themselves in their films: Angela Shelton to face her dark and abusive past, and Grace Lee to try and find some uniqueness behind her common name. Angela used the road as a way to connect women. She found as many women as she could with her name and set out to unite them all in their experiences and names. Angela's road was a very self-involved one. Even though she set out with the pretense of finding solidarity and a united front among women, she used the road and the women she encountered to fuel her own journey to facing her dark past. Her interviews were riddled with self-absorbed interjections, and every Angela she met was used in comparison to her own story. Grace Lee's goal was simple: to find out what women with the name, Grace Lee, were like. She used the road as a way to find unique qualities in women, rather than lumping them together in one group. Unlike Angela, Grace's interactions with the women were selfless: she intently listened to each of their stories without interjecting herself. She listened, and learned, whereas Angela listened and imposed herself.

Continue reading "Grace vs Angela" »

Posted by Bonnie and Louise at 12:53 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

"How did I end up with the name that made me the loser in a sorority of super agents?" (Grace Lee).
Both Angela Shelton and Grace Lee set out on personal quests to find themselves in their films: Angela Shelton to face her dark and abusive past, and Grace Lee to try and find some uniqueness behind her common name. Angela used the road as a way to connect women. She found as many women as she could with her name and set out to unite them all in their experiences and names. Angela's road was a very self-involved one. Even though she set out with the pretense of finding solidarity and a united front among women, she used the road and the women she encountered to fuel her own journey to facing her dark past. Her interviews were riddled with self-absorbed interjections, and every Angela she met was used in comparison to her own story. Grace Lee's goal was simple: to find out what women with the name, Grace Lee, were like. She used the road as a way to find unique qualities in women, rather than lumping them together in one group. Unlike Angela, Grace's interactions with the women were selfless: she intently listened to each of their stories without interjecting herself. She listened, and learned, whereas Angela listened and imposed herself.

Continue reading "Grace vs Angela" »

Posted by Bonnie and Louise at 12:53 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)