1) They have childcare responsibilities
2) It is a male dominated industry
3) Women are discouraged by so few other female directors
4) Women usually choose to conform to traditional gender roles
5) sexual discrimination within the industry
3 ways the number of female directors can be improved
1) To offer more media related subjects within schools
2) To give more media attention to female directors in order to motivate others
3) conjugal roles should be more equal within the household so that women can go out and pursue their careers while men lookafter the children and the house.
Tuesday 16 December 2008
Female Film Directors
Anita W. Addison
Born in Greensboro, North Carolina, Addison began working as a journalist before embarking on a directing and producing career. In the late 1980s, she worked as a senior VP of drama development at Lorimar before working as a producer at Warner Bros. Television. In 1989, she earned an Academy Award nomination for directing the short film Savannah.
* Eva's Man (1976)
* Freddy's Nightmares (1 episode, 1990)
* Knots Landing (1 episode, 1991) * Sisters (1 episode, 1991)
* There Are No Children Here (1993) * ER (1 episode, 1995)
* EZ Streets (1 episode, 1997)
* Judging Amy (1 episode, 2000)
Gurinda Chada
Gurinder Chadha, OBE, (born 10 January 1960) is a British film director of Indian origin. Most of her films explore the lives of Indians living in the UK. She is most famous for the hit films Bhaji on the Beach (1993), Bend It Like Beckham (2002), Bride and Prejudice (2004) and Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging (2008).
* Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging (2008)
* Paris, je t'aime (2006) segment "Quais de Seine"
* The Mistress of Spices (2005) (screenplay only)
* Bride and Prejudice (2004)
* Bend It Like Beckham (2002)
* What's Cooking? (2000)
* Rich Deceiver (1995), BBC two-part drama
* A Nice Arrangement (1994)
* What Do You Call an Indian Woman Who's Funny? (1994)
* Bhaji on the Beach (1993)
* Acting Our Age (1992)
* Pain, Passion and Profit (1992) (V)
* I'm British But... (1990) (TV)
Nora Ephron
Nora Ephron (born May 19, 1941) is an American film director, producer, screenwriter, novelist, journalist, and blogger.
She is best known for her romantic comedies and is a triple nominee for the Academy Award for Writing Original Screenplay; for Silkwood, When Harry Met Sally... and Sleepless in Seattle. She sometimes writes with her sister, Delia Ephron.
Producer, director, and screenwriter
* (1996) Michael
* (1998) You've Got Mail
* (2005) Bewitched
* (2009) Julie & Julia
Director and screenwriter
* (1992) This Is My Life
* (1993) Sleepless in Seattle
* (1994) Mixed Nuts
Producer and screenwriter
* (2000) Hanging Up
* (1990) My Blue Heaven
Producer and director
* (2000) Lucky Numbers
Screenwriter
* (1983) Silkwood
* (1986) Heartburn
* (1989) Cookie (also executive producer)
* (1989) When Harry Met Sally... (also associate producer)
Leni Riefenstahl
Helene Bertha Amalie "Leni" Riefenstahl (August 22, 1902 – September 8, 2003) was a German film director, actress and dancer widely noted for her aesthetics and innovations as a filmmaker.
* Das Blaue Licht (The Blue Light, 1932) co-director: Bela Balazs
* Der Sieg des Glaubens (Victory of Faith, 1933)
* Triumph des Willens (Triumph of the Will, 1934)
* Tag der Freiheit: Unsere Wehrmacht (Day of Freedom: Our Armed Forces, 1935)
* Olympia (Part 1 known as Fest der Völker/Festival of the Nations, Part 2 as Fest der Schönheit/Festival of Beauty, 1938)
* Tiefland (Lowlands, 1954)
* Impressionen unter Wasser (Underwater Impressions, 2002)
Dorothy Arzner
Dorothy Arzner (January 3, 1897 – October 1, 1979) was a pioneering American film director. Her directorial career in feature films spanned from the late 1920s into the early 1940s, a time period in which there were very few—if any—other women working in the field.
* First Comes Courage (1943)
* Dance, Girl, Dance (1940)
* The Bride Wore Red (1937)
* The Last of Mrs. Cheyney (1937) (uncredited)
* Craig's Wife (1936)
* Nana (1934)
* Christopher Strong (1933)
* Merrily We Go to Hell (1932)
* Working Girls (1931)
* Honor Among Lovers (1931)
* Anybody's Woman (1930)
* Paramount on Parade (1930)
* Sarah and Son (1930)
* Behind the Make-Up (1930) (uncredited)
* The Wild Party (1929)
* Manhattan Cocktail (1928) (lost, except for the montage sequence by Slavko Vorkapić)
* Get Your Man (1927)
* Ten Modern Commandments (1927)
* Fashions for Women (1927)
* Blood and Sand (1922) (additional footage) (uncredited)
Born in Greensboro, North Carolina, Addison began working as a journalist before embarking on a directing and producing career. In the late 1980s, she worked as a senior VP of drama development at Lorimar before working as a producer at Warner Bros. Television. In 1989, she earned an Academy Award nomination for directing the short film Savannah.
* Eva's Man (1976)
* Freddy's Nightmares (1 episode, 1990)
* Knots Landing (1 episode, 1991) * Sisters (1 episode, 1991)
* There Are No Children Here (1993) * ER (1 episode, 1995)
* EZ Streets (1 episode, 1997)
* Judging Amy (1 episode, 2000)
Gurinda Chada
Gurinder Chadha, OBE, (born 10 January 1960) is a British film director of Indian origin. Most of her films explore the lives of Indians living in the UK. She is most famous for the hit films Bhaji on the Beach (1993), Bend It Like Beckham (2002), Bride and Prejudice (2004) and Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging (2008).
* Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging (2008)
* Paris, je t'aime (2006) segment "Quais de Seine"
* The Mistress of Spices (2005) (screenplay only)
* Bride and Prejudice (2004)
* Bend It Like Beckham (2002)
* What's Cooking? (2000)
* Rich Deceiver (1995), BBC two-part drama
* A Nice Arrangement (1994)
* What Do You Call an Indian Woman Who's Funny? (1994)
* Bhaji on the Beach (1993)
* Acting Our Age (1992)
* Pain, Passion and Profit (1992) (V)
* I'm British But... (1990) (TV)
Nora Ephron
Nora Ephron (born May 19, 1941) is an American film director, producer, screenwriter, novelist, journalist, and blogger.
She is best known for her romantic comedies and is a triple nominee for the Academy Award for Writing Original Screenplay; for Silkwood, When Harry Met Sally... and Sleepless in Seattle. She sometimes writes with her sister, Delia Ephron.
Producer, director, and screenwriter
* (1996) Michael
* (1998) You've Got Mail
* (2005) Bewitched
* (2009) Julie & Julia
Director and screenwriter
* (1992) This Is My Life
* (1993) Sleepless in Seattle
* (1994) Mixed Nuts
Producer and screenwriter
* (2000) Hanging Up
* (1990) My Blue Heaven
Producer and director
* (2000) Lucky Numbers
Screenwriter
* (1983) Silkwood
* (1986) Heartburn
* (1989) Cookie (also executive producer)
* (1989) When Harry Met Sally... (also associate producer)
Leni Riefenstahl
Helene Bertha Amalie "Leni" Riefenstahl (August 22, 1902 – September 8, 2003) was a German film director, actress and dancer widely noted for her aesthetics and innovations as a filmmaker.
* Das Blaue Licht (The Blue Light, 1932) co-director: Bela Balazs
* Der Sieg des Glaubens (Victory of Faith, 1933)
* Triumph des Willens (Triumph of the Will, 1934)
* Tag der Freiheit: Unsere Wehrmacht (Day of Freedom: Our Armed Forces, 1935)
* Olympia (Part 1 known as Fest der Völker/Festival of the Nations, Part 2 as Fest der Schönheit/Festival of Beauty, 1938)
* Tiefland (Lowlands, 1954)
* Impressionen unter Wasser (Underwater Impressions, 2002)
Dorothy Arzner
Dorothy Arzner (January 3, 1897 – October 1, 1979) was a pioneering American film director. Her directorial career in feature films spanned from the late 1920s into the early 1940s, a time period in which there were very few—if any—other women working in the field.
* First Comes Courage (1943)
* Dance, Girl, Dance (1940)
* The Bride Wore Red (1937)
* The Last of Mrs. Cheyney (1937) (uncredited)
* Craig's Wife (1936)
* Nana (1934)
* Christopher Strong (1933)
* Merrily We Go to Hell (1932)
* Working Girls (1931)
* Honor Among Lovers (1931)
* Anybody's Woman (1930)
* Paramount on Parade (1930)
* Sarah and Son (1930)
* Behind the Make-Up (1930) (uncredited)
* The Wild Party (1929)
* Manhattan Cocktail (1928) (lost, except for the montage sequence by Slavko Vorkapić)
* Get Your Man (1927)
* Ten Modern Commandments (1927)
* Fashions for Women (1927)
* Blood and Sand (1922) (additional footage) (uncredited)
Contemporary adverts
This advert illustrates the "female gaze" and how the man is objectified which shows a dramatic change in society compared to historical adverts such as galaxy. However the close up of the womens faces and the fact that they are all attractive still purports the idea that women are to be looked at despite the actual contents of the advert which supports Laura Mulvey's theory of the "male gaze" in the audience
This advert shows egalitarian roles in the household. However despite the fc that roles are shared equally, the woman still completes her task more fficiently thus suggesting that women's roles are in the kitchen and conforming to stereotypical views.
This advert heavily challenges the conventions of the historical adverts as the men are shown to be pleasing the women. The idea of men doing housework is something which could never be imagines back in the 70s. Despite being presented as "the new man" the main character still holds masculine attributes such as watching football.
Historical Adverts
Similar to the coffee advert, women are presented as housewives and "gossips" whose main aims are to keep the house clean, please their husbands and their children. Their facial expressions reveal aspects of "false consciousness" as they are happy yet unaware that they are somewhat being exploited by society and thus conform to the roles designated to them.
The women in the adverts are depicted to be the typical "madonna" stereotypes whose only aims are to please their husbands. The first advert which shows the man standing up and looking down at his wife illustrates his superiority in comparison to her inferiority thus conforming to traditional ideologies of the time, that women should be housewives and caregivers.
The advert portrays the woman as sexually provocative, due to her dark clothing and seductive facial expression. The galaxy chocolate can be considered as a phallic symbol which insinuates the theory that women's main job is to please men. The woman is a victim to the male gaze due to her attractive looks and the way in which she removes items of clothing and thus is perceived to be a "whore". The fact that she is receiving pleasure by eating the chocolate challenges stereotypes during the time which as women should not be able to give into temptation and indulge in things which pleasure them.
Tuesday 9 December 2008
1990s...
Fatal Attraction
Basic Instinct (1992)
Both films see the evolution of the "dominant woman" originating from the 1940's genre of "film noir". The films portray sexually active females who will stop at nothing to get what they want, much like "Sunset Boulevard". However despite being portrayed as powerful it can be perceived that the only time women in film can be presented as more dominant is when they are playing negative rolls and stil sexually objectified due to their promiscuity. The films conform to the events transpiring in the 1990s where there was a male backlash according to "Susan Faludi", and men were against womens liberation and equality in the work place.
Basic Instinct (1992)
Both films see the evolution of the "dominant woman" originating from the 1940's genre of "film noir". The films portray sexually active females who will stop at nothing to get what they want, much like "Sunset Boulevard". However despite being portrayed as powerful it can be perceived that the only time women in film can be presented as more dominant is when they are playing negative rolls and stil sexually objectified due to their promiscuity. The films conform to the events transpiring in the 1990s where there was a male backlash according to "Susan Faludi", and men were against womens liberation and equality in the work place.
1980s...
Three Men and a Baby (1987)
This film highlights issues which are becoming more relevant in recent years as captures the zeitgeist of the time and the evolution of the "New Man" who is in touch with his feminine side. This thus challenges the dominant stereotypes that a man should be masculine and strong and repress his feelings much like "The Terminator".
The Terminator (1984)
"The Terminator" is a prime example of how the media portrays women to be in need of security and protection of a man. The terminator's strength and and power can be considered as a binary opposition compared to the womans susceptibility and vulnerability.
This film highlights issues which are becoming more relevant in recent years as captures the zeitgeist of the time and the evolution of the "New Man" who is in touch with his feminine side. This thus challenges the dominant stereotypes that a man should be masculine and strong and repress his feelings much like "The Terminator".
The Terminator (1984)
"The Terminator" is a prime example of how the media portrays women to be in need of security and protection of a man. The terminator's strength and and power can be considered as a binary opposition compared to the womans susceptibility and vulnerability.
1970s
Alien
The film "Alien" was the first movie to have a woman playing the central role and thus opposing the stereotypes enforced upon them, the woman is portrayed as strong and fearless which contradicts the females in star wars and helped to aid the equal allocation of roles in movies during the time and even today.
Star Wars
The female is portrayed s vulnerable and in need of the males protection, whereas the males are illustrated as the powerful species who can overcome anything, thus conforming to stereotypical ideologies that women are inferior and weak which complies with the context at the time.
The film "Alien" was the first movie to have a woman playing the central role and thus opposing the stereotypes enforced upon them, the woman is portrayed as strong and fearless which contradicts the females in star wars and helped to aid the equal allocation of roles in movies during the time and even today.
Star Wars
The female is portrayed s vulnerable and in need of the males protection, whereas the males are illustrated as the powerful species who can overcome anything, thus conforming to stereotypical ideologies that women are inferior and weak which complies with the context at the time.
1960s...
The Sound of Music
"The Sound of Music" portrays the lead character as a stereotypical motherly figure and the somewhat "ideal housewife" due to her maternal instinct and her connection with the children which is visible in this sequence. She is depicted as the "Madonna" and in turn is still considered to be inferior to the male counter part due to patriarchy and power of males during the time.
Goldfinger
The depiction of the woman here, completely juxtaposes that of "The Sound of Music" as her revealing clothing insinuates her "whore" like character, despite being portrayed differently she is still objectified when Bond intimately leans over her, without her objection thus making her a victim of the "male gaze"
"The Sound of Music" portrays the lead character as a stereotypical motherly figure and the somewhat "ideal housewife" due to her maternal instinct and her connection with the children which is visible in this sequence. She is depicted as the "Madonna" and in turn is still considered to be inferior to the male counter part due to patriarchy and power of males during the time.
Goldfinger
The depiction of the woman here, completely juxtaposes that of "The Sound of Music" as her revealing clothing insinuates her "whore" like character, despite being portrayed differently she is still objectified when Bond intimately leans over her, without her objection thus making her a victim of the "male gaze"
1950's...
High Noon (1952)
High Noon predominantly conveys ideas of patriarchy and how men are more dominant, assertive, confident and make the decisions. The open space is an epitome of their freedom and no female character is present in the opening which thus opposes their own freedom and the fact that men have the ascendancy over them.
Sunset Boulevard (1950)
Sunset Boulevard illustrates the women to be more powerful due to her confident expression and the way in which she contains herself, having the man under her control. Nevertheless, it still allows her to be objectified as she plays the role of a "femme fatal" and can be considered as the "whore" due to her provocative dress sense and her promiscuous ways.
High Noon predominantly conveys ideas of patriarchy and how men are more dominant, assertive, confident and make the decisions. The open space is an epitome of their freedom and no female character is present in the opening which thus opposes their own freedom and the fact that men have the ascendancy over them.
Sunset Boulevard (1950)
Sunset Boulevard illustrates the women to be more powerful due to her confident expression and the way in which she contains herself, having the man under her control. Nevertheless, it still allows her to be objectified as she plays the role of a "femme fatal" and can be considered as the "whore" due to her provocative dress sense and her promiscuous ways.
Book Research
Feminism and Film
Contributors: Maggie Humm - author.
Publisher: Edinburgh University Press.
Place of Publication: Edinburgh.
Publication Year: 1997.
"From Jane Fonda's brief flirtation with independence and inevitable marriage to
Klute in the 1970s, to Dead Ringers' masculine appropriation of repro
duction in the 1980s, to today, every Hollywood woman 'is someone
else's Other' ( Gentile 1985)" -P3
"Liberal feminism argues that women's liberation will
come with equal legal, political and economic rights, following Betty
Friedan's attack on media's 'feminine mystique' which, she argues,
prevented women from claiming equality ( Friedan 1963)"- P6
"The work of Laura Mulvey, Annette Kuhn, E. Ann Kaplan and bell hooks, I suggest, describes how the eroticisation of women on the screen comes about through the way
in which film assumes the spectator to be a white male and encourages
his voyeurism through specific camera and narrative techniques
( Mulvey 1975; Kuhn 1985; Kaplan 1980; hooks 1992)." -P39
Women and Film. Volume:4
Author: Janet Todd
Publisher: Holmes & Meier.
Place of Publication: New York.
Publication Year: 1988.
"When dealing with American commercial cinema, the critical project has
unmasked the absence of woman as a viable, active force and dis
covered instead an empty space that has been filled in and articulated
by filmmakers with the stereotypes created out of male fantasy and
fear. Women do not exist in American film. Instead we find another
creation, made by men, growing out of their ideological imperatives.
Gaye Tuchman has called the phenomenon the symbolic annihilation
of women, the replacement of reality by the patriarchal fantasies of
subservience or its opposite, the fantasy of the voracious, destructive
woman (who must, in her turn, be destroyed)"- P30
All That Hollywood Allows: Re-Reading Gender in 1950s Melodrama
Author: Jackie Byars
Publisher: University of North Carolina Press.
Place of Publication: Chapel Hill,
NC. Publication Year: 1991
Heidi Hartman: "Biology is always mediated by society.Sex we're born with; gender we learn."- P2 ( Hartman, "The Family as Locus of Gender, Class, and Political Struggle"p. 371.)
Issues in Feminist Film Criticism
Author: Patricia Erens
Publisher: Indiana University Press (January 1991)
(Gaylyn Studler in "Masochism and the Perverse Pleasures of the Cinema)
"Studler asserted that film viewing relied on a regression to the preoedipal stage rather than the later oedipal stage discussed by Mulvey. As such, the image of woman, tied to the child's earliest view of the mother, had a significantly different symbolic value. Rather than representing the threat of castration, women represented memories of plentitude." P-xxi
"feminist scholars have taken a closer look at several Hollywood genres, including film noir, the womans picture, and the maternal melodrama, films which either depicted a strong, sexual heroine or seemed to address a female audience......Gentlemen prefer Blondes, Stella Dallas and a Letter from an Unknown Woman. In all of these works the central characters are female. Furthermore, in A Letter From an Unknown Woman, the story is narrated by the heroine. Such films intrigued feminist critics because they focused on women's issues( home, family, emotionality), presented subversive heroines who went against society's norms, and seemed to provide a feminine discourse." -P xxii
"in its own way, the women's film is capable of accomplishing much the same work as a deconstructive cinema: revealing women's plight in a sexist society and subverting the traditional propaganda that reinforces this ideology." -P xxii
Feminist Film Theory: A Reader
Author: Sue Thornham
Publisher: NYU Press (April 1, 1999)
"sex role stereotyping"
- In her account, films both reflect social structures and changes and misrepresent them according to the fantasies and fears of their male creators. P10
(The Image of Women in Film: Some suggestions for Future Research- Sharon Smith)
Notes on Women's Cinema
Author- Claire Johnston
Publisher: Society for Education in Film and Television (1973)
"From the outset the Women's movement has assumed without question the importance of film in the women's struggle...The reason for this interest in the media is nor difficult to locate: it has been the level of image that the violence of sexism and capitalism has been experienced"
Cracks in the Pedestal: Ideology and Gender in Hollywood
Author: Green, Philip
Publisher: University of Massachusetts Press
"The triple male gaze" is the key to an initial understanding of the production and consumption of visual culture (cinematic visual culture, at any rate). The triple male gaze is the gaze of the camera, which (via the cinematographer/ director) chooses what is to be shown on the screen; of the male protagonist on the screen who directs our gaze to the female objects of his gaze, and, most crucial, the gaze of the male viewers in the audience, whose fantasies it is uniquely the intention of classical cinema to activate. As Mulvey described it, male voyeurism therefore controls both what is shown on the screen and what is seen emanating from the screen." -P10
Popcorn Venus: Women, Movies and the American Dream
Author: Marjorie Rosen
Publisher: Avon (1973)
“films have been a mirror held up to society’s porous face. They therefore reflect the changing societal image of women—which, until recently, has not been taken seriously enough.”
Women and Film: Both sides of the Camera
Author: E. Ann Kaplan
Publisher: Routledge; 1 edition (December 31, 1990)
"Using psychoanalysis to deconstruct Hollywood films enables us to see clearly the patriarchal myths through which we have been positioned as Other (enigma, mystery), and as eternal and unchanging. We can also see how the family melodrama, as a genre geared specifically to weomen, functions both to expose the constraints and limitations that the capitalist nuclear family imposes on women and, at the same time, to "educate" women to accept those constraints as "natural", inevitable- as "given"." - P25
Contributors: Maggie Humm - author.
Publisher: Edinburgh University Press.
Place of Publication: Edinburgh.
Publication Year: 1997.
"From Jane Fonda's brief flirtation with independence and inevitable marriage to
Klute in the 1970s, to Dead Ringers' masculine appropriation of repro
duction in the 1980s, to today, every Hollywood woman 'is someone
else's Other' ( Gentile 1985)" -P3
"Liberal feminism argues that women's liberation will
come with equal legal, political and economic rights, following Betty
Friedan's attack on media's 'feminine mystique' which, she argues,
prevented women from claiming equality ( Friedan 1963)"- P6
"The work of Laura Mulvey, Annette Kuhn, E. Ann Kaplan and bell hooks, I suggest, describes how the eroticisation of women on the screen comes about through the way
in which film assumes the spectator to be a white male and encourages
his voyeurism through specific camera and narrative techniques
( Mulvey 1975; Kuhn 1985; Kaplan 1980; hooks 1992)." -P39
Women and Film. Volume:4
Author: Janet Todd
Publisher: Holmes & Meier.
Place of Publication: New York.
Publication Year: 1988.
"When dealing with American commercial cinema, the critical project has
unmasked the absence of woman as a viable, active force and dis
covered instead an empty space that has been filled in and articulated
by filmmakers with the stereotypes created out of male fantasy and
fear. Women do not exist in American film. Instead we find another
creation, made by men, growing out of their ideological imperatives.
Gaye Tuchman has called the phenomenon the symbolic annihilation
of women, the replacement of reality by the patriarchal fantasies of
subservience or its opposite, the fantasy of the voracious, destructive
woman (who must, in her turn, be destroyed)"- P30
All That Hollywood Allows: Re-Reading Gender in 1950s Melodrama
Author: Jackie Byars
Publisher: University of North Carolina Press.
Place of Publication: Chapel Hill,
NC. Publication Year: 1991
Heidi Hartman: "Biology is always mediated by society.Sex we're born with; gender we learn."- P2 ( Hartman, "The Family as Locus of Gender, Class, and Political Struggle"p. 371.)
Issues in Feminist Film Criticism
Author: Patricia Erens
Publisher: Indiana University Press (January 1991)
(Gaylyn Studler in "Masochism and the Perverse Pleasures of the Cinema)
"Studler asserted that film viewing relied on a regression to the preoedipal stage rather than the later oedipal stage discussed by Mulvey. As such, the image of woman, tied to the child's earliest view of the mother, had a significantly different symbolic value. Rather than representing the threat of castration, women represented memories of plentitude." P-xxi
"feminist scholars have taken a closer look at several Hollywood genres, including film noir, the womans picture, and the maternal melodrama, films which either depicted a strong, sexual heroine or seemed to address a female audience......Gentlemen prefer Blondes, Stella Dallas and a Letter from an Unknown Woman. In all of these works the central characters are female. Furthermore, in A Letter From an Unknown Woman, the story is narrated by the heroine. Such films intrigued feminist critics because they focused on women's issues( home, family, emotionality), presented subversive heroines who went against society's norms, and seemed to provide a feminine discourse." -P xxii
"in its own way, the women's film is capable of accomplishing much the same work as a deconstructive cinema: revealing women's plight in a sexist society and subverting the traditional propaganda that reinforces this ideology." -P xxii
Feminist Film Theory: A Reader
Author: Sue Thornham
Publisher: NYU Press (April 1, 1999)
"sex role stereotyping"
- In her account, films both reflect social structures and changes and misrepresent them according to the fantasies and fears of their male creators. P10
(The Image of Women in Film: Some suggestions for Future Research- Sharon Smith)
David Gauntlett: Media, Gender and Identity
*"advertisers have by now realised that audiences will only laugh at images of the pretty housewife" P57
Notes on Women's Cinema
Author- Claire Johnston
Publisher: Society for Education in Film and Television (1973)
"From the outset the Women's movement has assumed without question the importance of film in the women's struggle...The reason for this interest in the media is nor difficult to locate: it has been the level of image that the violence of sexism and capitalism has been experienced"
Cracks in the Pedestal: Ideology and Gender in Hollywood
Author: Green, Philip
Publisher: University of Massachusetts Press
"The triple male gaze" is the key to an initial understanding of the production and consumption of visual culture (cinematic visual culture, at any rate). The triple male gaze is the gaze of the camera, which (via the cinematographer/ director) chooses what is to be shown on the screen; of the male protagonist on the screen who directs our gaze to the female objects of his gaze, and, most crucial, the gaze of the male viewers in the audience, whose fantasies it is uniquely the intention of classical cinema to activate. As Mulvey described it, male voyeurism therefore controls both what is shown on the screen and what is seen emanating from the screen." -P10
Popcorn Venus: Women, Movies and the American Dream
Author: Marjorie Rosen
Publisher: Avon (1973)
“films have been a mirror held up to society’s porous face. They therefore reflect the changing societal image of women—which, until recently, has not been taken seriously enough.”
Women and Film: Both sides of the Camera
Author: E. Ann Kaplan
Publisher: Routledge; 1 edition (December 31, 1990)
"Using psychoanalysis to deconstruct Hollywood films enables us to see clearly the patriarchal myths through which we have been positioned as Other (enigma, mystery), and as eternal and unchanging. We can also see how the family melodrama, as a genre geared specifically to weomen, functions both to expose the constraints and limitations that the capitalist nuclear family imposes on women and, at the same time, to "educate" women to accept those constraints as "natural", inevitable- as "given"." - P25
Thursday 4 December 2008
David Gauntlet - Media Gender & Identity...Representations of Gender in the Past
Women and Men on TV
Gunter(1995) Elasmer et al. (1999)-
Gunter(1995) Elasmer et al. (1999)-
- In the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s only 20 to 35% of charcters were female.
- 1980s- more leading females
Miles (1975)-
- nearly equal proportions of men and women in situation comedies- humour was still traditional & sexist
- only 15% of leading charcters were women in action adventure shows
- a study shows that women more common in comedy programmes (43%)
Davis (1990)-
- action adventure shows- women doubled their showing to a still low 29%
Gunter
- studies in 1970's consistently found that marriage, parenthood and domesticity were more important for women than men
McNeil (1975)
- womens movement largely ignored by television- main role was housewives
Woman and film, Sharon Smith: “Women, in fully human form, have almost completely been left out of film. . . The role of woman in a film almost always revolves around her physical attraction, and the mating games she plays with the male characters. On the other hand a man is not shown purely in relation to the female character, but in a wide variety of roles”
Kathi Maio, 1990s:“Women are not only given less screen time, when we’re up there on the screen we are likely to be portrayed as powerless and ineffectual...Where are the triumphant woman heroes to match the winner roles men play constantly?”
Hegemonic vs Pluralistic...
In my opinion, the pluralistic model holds more value than that of the hegemonic model as it implies that all media texts have multiple interpretations and active audiences are able to challenge and oppose particular texts if they wish to. However, the hegemonic theory perceives the audience to be passive as they adhere to the ideologies of the ruling class and thus are unable to interpret the media in any other way, absorbing and conforming to the medias subliminal messages.
Wednesday 12 November 2008
Cover work 12/11/08- Analysis of film clip
The dark atmosphere of the scene, reflects the party and club like atmosphere, therefore epitomizing the idea of youth which contrasts with the age of both Alison and her sister. Furthermore, the fact that there is a combining shot of both the security guard and Alisons sister allows us to witness the bouncers strength and muscularity in comparison to Alison's sister's petite figure and weakness. However, this is contradicted as her personality and strong character when she uses derogatory language to lower his esteem represents him as inferior in comparison to her female dominance and thus challenges stereotypes. This establishes the binary oppositions of power and dominance, respect and disrespect and the youth and the elderly. It can also be perceived that this point in the film is somewhat the realization of disruption in Todorov's equilibrium theory as Alison becomes aware of the consequences having a baby could bring.
Moreover, the fact that Alison is situated in the middle of this argument suggests that she is the cause of all this mayhem, the argument being an epitome of the chaos to subsequently transpire during her pregnancy. The fact that only diegetic sound of dialogue and club music is used allows the scene to appear more realistic due to the seriousness of issues despite the scenes comedic conventions. In turn ideologies such as matriarchy, youth, patriarchy and sexuality are all addressed and adhere to contemporary issues regarding the idea that women are still objectified in society as the bouncer only lets in the younger prettier girls which suggests that appearance is still exceedingly significant in obtaining benefits. However, Alison's sister's character can also be perceived as a symbol of female power and women fighting back, hence stereotypes within this scene are constantly fluctuated and her emotion and anger (illustrated by several close ups) reflect her passion regarding the issue and thus challenges the traditional role of women who should be acceptant of patriarchal society. Nevertheless, it can also be argued that her character is depicted extremely negatively die to her high tone of voice and derogatory language adhering to the stereotype of the "whiny", "argumentative" stereotype of married women. Her dominance is also put into question with the scene in the hospital with Ben which also embodies this stereotype.
Monday 3 November 2008
Possible Books to look at
15 of the Best Books and Articles on: Feminist Film Criticism as selected by Questia librarians
http://www.questia.com/library/sociology-and-anthropology/feminist-film-criticism.jsp
- 1.
Feminism and Film » Read Nowby Maggie Humm. 246 pgs.
Collections: Entire LibraryThe first study to apply a broad range of theory to contemporary film. With dazzling insight and critical aplomb, Maggie Humm highlights and explains feminist issues and offers a fascinating array of original film analyses. She draws on the work of Laura Mulvey, Annette Kuhn, E. Ann Kaplan and bell...
- 2.
Women and Film, Vol. 4 » Read Nowby Janet Todd. 281 pgs.
Collections: Entire Library...Mulveys now-classic essay on feminist film criticism, "Visual Pleasure and the...narrower, prewar sense. Modern feminist film criticism changes our way of looking...An... - 3.
The Woman at the Keyhole: Feminism and Women's Cinema » Read Nowby Judith Mayne. 260 pgs.
Collections: Entire Library...desire. While feminist film theory and criticism are obviously...has been, in feminist film theory and criticism, both extremely...repressed of classical film narrative... - 4.
Cracks in the Pedestal: Ideology and Gender in Hollywood » Read Nowby Philip Green. 262 pgs.
Collections: Entire Library...pictures. 4. Feminist film criticism. I. Title...Teaching of Film, and by many...friendly criticism. About all...responded to the feminist revolution...structured by the... - 5.
All That Hollywood Allows: Re-Reading Gender in 1950s Melodrama » Read Nowby Jackie Byars. 326 pgs.
Collections: Entire Library...Melodrama in motion pictures. 4. Feminist film criticism. 5. Motion pictures--Social...the assumption common in feminist film criticism today: all that is... - 6.
Guilty Pleasures: Feminist Camp from Mae West to Madonna » Read Nowby Pamela Robertson. 199 pgs.
Collections: Entire Library...spectator has been central to feminist film theory since the 1970 s. 37...famous "Visual Pleasure" essay. Feminist film theorists have grappled with...spectacle in film... - 7.
Feminist Discourse and Spanish Cinema: Sight Unseen » Read Nowby Susan Martin-Marquez. 322 pgs.
Collections: Entire LibraryFeminist Discourse and Spanish Cinema provides the first detailed consideration of women directors working before the Civil War and during Franco's dictatorship, and is the first to explore the impact of feminism on filmmaking in Spain. Part I focuses on three directors, Rosario Pi, Ana Mariscal... - 8.
Women and the New German Cinema » Read Nowby Julia Knight. 222 pgs.
Collections: Entire Library...SPECTATORS Looking at Film and Televison...Radway GRAFTS Feminist Cultural Criticism edited by...to a whole feminist film culture and...extracts from the feminist film... - 9.
Filming Women in the Third Reich » Read Nowby Jo Fox. 268 pgs.
Collections: Entire LibraryIn 1936, Goebbels stated that 'a government that controls art will remain forever', and the German film industry became inextricably linked with National Socialist propaganda. This book is an historical evaluation of the role and image of women in the feature films of the Third Reich. The author... - 10.
Feminism, Film, Fascism: Women's Auto/Biographical Film in Postwar Germany » Read Nowby Susan E. Linville. 196 pgs.
Collections: Entire LibraryGerman society' inability and/or refusal to come to terms with its Nazi past has been analyzed in many cultural works, including the well-known books Society without the Father and The Inability to Mourn . In this pathfinding study, Susan Linville challenges the accepted wisdom of these books by... - 11.
Framing the Feminine: Diasporic Readings of Gender in Popular Indian Cinema, in Women's Studies in Communication » Read Nowby Anjali Ram. 28 pgs.
Collections: Entire Library...Quarterly Review of Film and Video, 11(3...Defining genealogies: Feminist reflections on being...exile, homeland: Film, media, and the politics...Phenomenology as feminist... - 12.
Here Comes the Bride: Wedding Gender and Race in Bride of Frankenstein, in Feminist Studies » Read Nowby Elizabeth Young. 35 pgs.
Collections: Entire Library...directions in feminist film theory. Recent feminist criticism of the horror film...Frankenstein leave feminist film theory? That film criticisms reliance upon... - 13.
Travels with Sally Potter's Orlando: Gender, Narrative, Movement, in Screen » Read Nowby Julianne Pidduck. 18 pgs.
Collections: Philosophy, Entire Library...part of the project of feminist film criticism and filmmaking has been the...impetus of Orlandos utopian feminist journey...Television. Essays in Cultural Criticism... - 14.
Feminist Visions of Transformation in The Ballad of Little Jo, The Piano, and Orlando, in Women and Language » Read Nowby David Natharius, Bethami A. Dobkin. 9 pgs.
Collections: Entire Library...7) Less often, feminist criticism explores how womens...particularly in film, where portrayals...Films," Issues in Feminist Film criticism, ed Patricia Ehrens...Women,"... - 15.
Duel or Duet? Gendered Nationalism in The Piano, in Film Criticism » Read Nowby Davinia Thornley. 16 pgs.
Collections: Entire Library...regarding colonial and feminist themes in the film. As I will detail, I refute...policy. This in turn limits feminist interpretations of the film in articles and...
http://www.questia.com/library/sociology-and-anthropology/feminist-film-criticism.jsp
Women in Film
In order to examine popular culture and its reflection of American society, we must look at America’s most beloved form of media, film. Film historians and researchers have found out that men play a disproportionate amount of leads and heroes. They were also depicted as employed professionals, as opposed to the percentage of women who were depicted as unemployed housewives. In a study of 100 films released in 1941 and 1942, “eighty percent of films focusing on the love/hate problems of a man had a good bad girl as the main female character. In 50 percent of the films, the good bad girl successfully opposed a bad girl,” (Butler, 141). In a study of the films from the 1930s to 1970s, historians have categorized four dominant types of roles that women played. The first one is the “Pillar of Virtue” types played by Doris Day or Julie Andrews. This category also features mothers and mammies such as Hattie McDaniel’s character in “Gone with the Wind.” The “Glamour Girl” range from sex goddesses such as Marilyn Monroe in “Bus Stop” to femme fatales such as Marlene Dietrich in “Blonde Venus.” The “Emotive Woman” is the sexually frustrated Rosalind Russell in “Picnic” and the seductive Elizabeth Taylor in “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof.” Thus, the last category, the “Independent” woman or the Katharine Hepburn type, is Barbara Streisand in “Funny Girl,” or Jane Fonda in “Klute,” the liberated woman. Throughout much of film history, women have been depicted as manipulative, sexually repressed, or sexually overt. There was also a lack of sisterhood and films with women interacting with other women in a positive light. In the 1950s, especially, we witnessed an era of “reaffirming male dominance and female subservience; movies showed women as breasts and buttocks, again idealizing women who were ‘pretty, amusing, and childish,’” (Butler, 145). Much of this female contempt has endured and remained, although it may not be as obvious as the previous decades. Nowadays, we see more sensationalized sexual roles for women as the trend began in the 70s. Women now are also shown as waifs similar to the 60s trend, which was a severe contrast to the idea image of the 50s. All in all, women are becoming an endangered species in films and taking increasingly less leading roles.
http://www.geocities.com/albanystudent/wif.html
Ever since the 1960s, the women’s movement has been concerned with media portrayal of women. Major studies of the most pervasive medium, television, and particularly its commercials revealed the same subordination of women we saw in film. In commercials, most voice-overs were done by men and overall, men were featured more often than women. The women who were featured were limited to family roles. Women were shown doing housework and men were the beneficiaries of their work. On the other hand, men were employed, had careers, and were doing something outside the home. More significantly, even though the age of the female population is bit higher than the male, commercials featured a disproportionate number of young women as opposed to men. “In commercials during children’s programming, women and girls were seen less than men and boys,” (Butler, 93). In television programs, such as soap operas, quiz shows, prime-time dramatic shows, and public-affairs programs, we saw similar trends as well. Once again, “men are more often employed than women and have higher status jobs. Also, the woman’s marital status is known more often,” (Butler, 93-94). She is marked by her relationship with men.
Some new discourse has been generated to the negative media portrayals of women as well. Let’s take the film noir genre for example. “These were thrillers made in the 40s and 50s, usually shot in dramatic black and white, with sensual stars who would use their attractiveness to manipulate luckless men,” (Root, 17). Film noirs such as “Double Indemnity” and “Sunset Boulevard” are such examples where the characters of Barbara Stanwyck and Gloria Swanson trap men into their evil ploys. “The women usually die too, however, punished for their relentless attempt to satisfy their own desires and the threat that they represent to the stable world of marriage, family and female submissiveness,” (Root, 18). However, of late, feminists have begun to have a new view of film noirs, suggesting that these films show women who are outside their standard role of femininity. Although they use their sexuality, they derive power from it and use their intellect to get what they want. They represent strong, active women and these virtues override the male-centered moral it is to enforce upon the audience. Another alternate approach to this is understanding some of the dynamics of the rock video, which embodies the opposite of the male gaze. Rather than omitting the possibility of voyeurism for the female audience, it almost works as a gender blind construct. “The rock star body, and in alliance with videos, is always coded to be looked at whether male or female,” (Brown, 105). For one thing, rock videos contain “performance, a direct address, which produces a different kind of gaze than those that pertain in film, and fantasy, in relation to dominant cultural definitions of pleasure and desire,” (Brown, 10). Although some videos highly objectify women, these are examples of studying oppression to draw new conclusions and findings.
http://www.geocities.com/albanystudent/wif.html
Feminism and the Women's Film Movement
Throughout the 1960s the significance of the media was emphasised more strongly than any other period in history. The world of film was no exception, and thus emerged as a major concentration for the second wave of feminism. As with other systems and processes, feminists recognised a subordination and oppression in the predominately patriarchal film world. The late 1960s and early 1970s therefore witnessed an influx of feminist film production and circulation. In combating the problems of ‘classic’ cinema, feminists established both a new kind of film, the ‘counter cinema’, which in conjunction with feminist film theory produced the wider feminist film movement. The role of feminist film groups and film festivals popularised these productions, and established feminist cinema as both a recognisable and political force.
| Women were increasingly aware of the importance of film in both their political and social struggle. There is consequently a necessity to determine the offensiveness of ‘classic’ cinema. Throughout the 1950s film reflected a world in which women lived in the masculine shadow. Hollywood cinema reinforced what was considered to be the only acceptable image of women. Marriage was an overriding concern, for example How To Marry A Millionaire (1953), and films such as Annie Get Your Gun (1950) and Calamity Jane (1953) emphasising the necessity of femininity and a tamed independence in order to ‘get’ a man. Female identity was dictated by male film directors, and women were little more than a spectacle and object of sexual desire. Female presence was only necessary as a means of reflecting the sexual hierarchy. As S. Smith notes “From its beginning they [women] were present but not in characterisations any self-respecting person could identify with”[1]. Thus women were increasingly self-conscious of both their image and femininity. The standardisation of the desirable female as result of the Sex Goddess, namely Marilyn Monroe, determined women as a group “particularly susceptible to the media”[2]. |
| With the power and potential of film having been recognised, it is of little surprise that feminist enterprise ventured into this field. Women’s struggle against the current system of representation took a threefold form. Women either entered the existing system with ambitions of breaking it, proceeded to make films outside of the commercial system, and women developed a feminist film theory - the overlap and interrelatedness of all three measures being obvious. Their challenge was to the traditional representation of women in cinema, and the aim was the displacement of patriarchal dominance in the cinematic world. Women such as Kate Millett, author of Sexual Politics (1970) criticised the power relationships and traditional sex roles inherent in film, and called for a more positive representation of women and attention to women’s issues. Here was an obvious way to extend women’s conjoined interest in art and politics, acting as particularly visual communicators of feminist thought. |
| Consequently, it would perhaps prove interesting to briefly assess the role of the Sex Goddess actress, attempting to understand her hindering, or perhaps contribution, to feminism and women’s film. Veronica-Jane Birley considers the life of Marilyn Monroe, questioning “What did she do for the insecurity of Mrs Ordinary Housewife?”[3]. From both contemporary and recent feminist writings, Monroe is something of a contradiction. On screen she exemplifies all that feminism protests. In her earliest films she was nothing more than a spectacle, frequently having no biography or even no name, being taken advantage of and humiliated, for example in Some Like It Hot (1959). She was nothing more than a gender, the object of sexual gaze and consequently the household word for sex. Similarly her continued appearances in Playboy since 1953 further exemplified the contemporary feminists opinion of her as the ultimate victim. Women are not, however, capable of detaching themselves from her. Monroe made people, if only fractionally, believe in themselves. She was a self made - though with male direction and discretion - Cinderella proving the extent of possibilities for any and every woman. Fundamentally she was just a woman, and it was with this that feminists empathised. “She paid a higher and higher price for being Marilyn”[4], it was Norma Jeane Mortenson and her troublesome private life that feminists identified with admired. Her death was a feminine, not a cinematic, tragedy. |
| Feminist filmmakers were not attempting to deny the past glories of such Hollywood stars. Theirs was a new orientation. Feminism became a movement of liberation rather than reform, a movement of breaking away and creating the new. The media was a resourceful tool for consciousness-raising, and feminism was now preparing to utilise this to the full. Similarly, film was a forum for bringing female issues to the forefront. Feminist films strongly and seriously approached matters of women’s social and economic status, gender characterisation and the struggle of juggling both family and career roles. Matters of abortion, divorce and marriage were simultaneously considered from a specifically feminist point of view. The sheer anger The early 1970s therefore saw a massive increase in the production of feminist films, and by 1976 it is estimated that there were well over 200 feminist filmmakers[5], due in part to the increased teaching of film and filmmaking skills in colleges and universities. The birth of feminist filmmaking was not, however, restricted to - though it may be dominated by - America. European feminists made equal, and at times anticipatory, contributions to the women’s film movement. Britain’s filmmakers produced Darling, Georgy Girl, and A Woman’s Place between 1965-9 and similarly Swedish filmmaker Mai Zetterling had great success with The Girls (1969), all being films that served to raise consciousness amongst their audience. |
| Whilst independent women filmmakers were at work, perhaps the most outstanding contribution came from the specifically feminist production and distribution groups that were established. Finding little support from commercial companies, patronised and insulted by men of the business, the establishment of specifically feminist production and distribution companies was in every sense beneficial to the women’s film movement. Women In Media and the Women’s Film Project, together with the newly established film co operations, for example New Day Films and the Women’s Film Coop, allowed specifically feminist films to be produced both efficiently and professionally, whilst having the added advantage of interpersonal dynamics. Group activity and collaboration generated discussion and new political ideas, emphasising the notion of struggle within the movement. For artists of any medium, production is not nearly as trying as successful promotion and popularity. Without the efforts and published guidebooks of the distribution groups, feminist film would have reached only a marginal success of that it actually achieved. |
| In accommodating the massive upsurge in women’s film production came the birth of the feminist film festival. Hugely overshadowed by commercial Hollywood cinema, these occasions were invaluable to women’s film, as B. Ruby Rich comments, “They were the only chance, like those signs for gas before crossing the desert - in this case, emerging from a century long desert”[6]. Held in New York in June 1972, the first International Festival of Women’s Film may be termed as the ‘debut’ of the feminist film movement. Here was the most visible form of publicity available. For not only feminist films but the entire movement was brought into the spotlight, the efforts of communicating information were matched by the emphasis on solidarity amongst all present. Over 100 films from America, Canada and Europe were screened, and occasions for panel discussion were utilised. Between the first and second International Festival, 1976, it is estimated that between 40 and 50 further festivals took place in America alone[7]. However, the festival was by no means a strictly American phenomenon. Organisation of feminist screenings by Laura Mulvey at the Edinburgh Film Festival in 1972, and the 1974 International Women’s Film Seminar in Berlin created further opportunities for consciousness-raising and the possibility for filmmakers to meet and discuss. The instant success of the festivals made for their immediate trend throughout the feminist world. They were something of a mission, and their participants possessed a missionary zeal. These were not simply recreational pastimes, but rather the events of a political calendar. Every step in the planning and completion of a festival was a political step. The event provided a historical perspective to the issues raised within feminist film, and opened up the occasion for the serious study of this area of cinema that was previously ignored. Evidence of this comes in the 1973 critical publications of women in film by M. Haskell, M. Rosen, and J. Mellen. The most valid criticism of the festivals comes, however, in the observation that the nature of one-off showings was unlikely to produce substantial bodies of support for either female directors or individual films. True this may be, however the value of the festivals as an outreach effort can not be replaced nor easily substituted. The fact remains that the festivals and the films that they screened were both popular and influential. |
http://www.bristol.ac.uk/Depts/History/Sixties/Feminism/film.htm
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