After reading up on my topic of
“Feminism and Film”, I found that there is a lot of information out there. What
I really wanted to focus on was the “feminist counter-cinema” and exactly what
that meant. I came upon one feminist film theory article from theorist Anneke
Smelik. Smelik wrote that this counter-cinema movement was one with avant-garde
aesthetics and a focus on breaking the ‘classic film narrative’. Smelik also
went on to say that ‘feminist counter-cinema did not only pertain to fictional
film, but also to documentary’. I think this is an interesting idea, and I like
the concept that ‘feminist documentary should manufacture and construct the
‘truth’ of women’s oppression, not merely reflect it’.
I’m very intrigued by the different
levels that the feminist counter-cinema holds. I haven’t read or studied much
on it and would love to narrow my sights onto this specific area. I also
learned that this counter-cinema is only a tiny part of the films that women
have made since the mid-1970s. I learned
more about the idea of the male gaze in a lot of early cinema, especially
western movies, and how female’s spectators either had to assume the masculine
gaze or identify with the ‘slot of passive femininity’. Learning more about the
female hand in making movies and changing how movies are perceived made me start
to consider if I should focus on that part of feminism and film.
- http://www.annekesmelik.nl/TheCinemaBook.pdf
I think the combination of feminism and film is a refreshing approach on an incredibly relevant topic. Being a supporter of feminism, I know that there is an immense amount of exceptional writing on the subject. I think focusing on a specific type of cinema will provide a telling snapshot of the feminist movement through a pop-culture lens and I',m very interested to read about it.
ReplyDeleteGreat topic! It looks like you are focusing on the actress side. And I think this is a great theme to discover, but maybe also consider the world behind the camera. Because it seems to me that men are dominating the filmmaking / director field in the industry - at least in the main stream and the general Media. This portraits a wrong message to all aspiring female filmmaker sitting at home and watching films.
ReplyDeleteI think this is a interesting and relevant topic in today's film industry. I think that instead of focusing on one or the other, maybe you can use both the horror film and girl-next-door types as examples of roles that are made for actresses. I look forward to seeing how your research goes.
ReplyDeleteThis is a great approach to feminism. I find its a growing topic today and more and more people are becoming aware of issues they were once blinded to. Going about feminism and its link to cinema is great way to display the information you find. Very interesting !
ReplyDeleteI like that you've chosen a topic that will likely help you understand your field a bit better. I think that writing your paper just specifically about known feminist filmmakers might be a little obvious, just since they already put themselves out there as feminist. But if you search for the hidden strokes of feminism in modern film, that might be really interesting. This is such a progressive topic, especially since film history portrayed women in a ridiculous manner, so kudos!
ReplyDeleteCool blog! You seem to know what direction you're going with this. How much does this theory effect the general public? This "set role" that woman play, as well as how big a role cinema can have in our lives today, must have a large effect not only on girls but on boys as well. We idolize our heroes in films, we want to be them when we are little. Just a thought to mention the effect on males as well.
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