dawnvancamp

[dawnvancamp]

Hey Elizabeth! 

This is a great example of what Gaines was saying. Females are generally thought of as inferior to men, but race really levels the playing field for males and females. Because Jericho One was black, he was killed on the spot in front of the white women. They only killed the women so that what they did would not get out to the public, but in the situation the women were seen as superior to men because of their race.

Viewing Response #14: Strange Days

In Jane Gaines’ article “White Privilege and Looking Relations: Race and Gender in Feminist Film Theory,” Gaines discusses how the Feminist Film Theory becomes complicated when factoring in race. While Feminist Film Theory is based off of the assumption that males are superior to females, adding the factor of race changes this. It becomes that the white male is most superior, then the white female, with both male and female blacks grouped together as most inferior. Therefore, Feminist Film Theory does not really apply to black males and females due to race.

In Bigelow’s Strange Days, we see how Gaines’ ideas play a role in film. Gaines’ point is proven in the scene in which the two white cops kill Jericho One. While Feminist Film Theory groups all males superior to females, this scene shows that race alters this idea. Adding race as a factor puts the two white male cops above the black male, showing that there is a hierarchy when it comes to race as well.

[dawnvancamp]

Hey Brandon! 

This was a great scene to choose. It really emphasizes the point that Gaines makes in her article of the added discrimination due to race. She is also seen as more dangerous at the end of the movie because she is black and they begin beating her even though she put down her weapon and was trying to rationally talk to the police.

Strange Days (1995) Viewing Response

In Jane Gaines article “White Privilege and Looking Relations: Race and Gender in Feminist Film Theory,” she speaks on how sexual difference theory can not handle both racial and sexual differences. Through this, black women feel oppressed and misheard because of their race and gender. She also claims that black women would be less likely to black men over white men because they share an oppression of race with each other.

In one of the pivotal scenes of Strange Days by Kathryn Bigelow, Mace needs to give a tape of proof to Palmer in order to incriminate the dirty cops. When giving the tape to Palmer, Mace is almost completely ignored and disregarded. Through this scene, we see how Mace is treated because of her race and gender, and even though Palmer eventually looks at the tape, it wakes audiences realize that people like Mace in this society are most likely treated like she was by Palmer. 

[dawnvancamp]

Viewing Response 14: Strange Days

In “White Privilege and Looking Relations: Race and Gender in Feminist Film Theory,” Jane Gaines discusses how the “straight mind” or the male/female opposition that was the original lesson from feminism. She argues that this allows people to see the position of some women incorrectly.

This is shown in Strange Days (1995) with the character Faith. She is seen by the males in the film as this woman who needs to be protected and who is in constant danger of being killed. It turns out that she was actual one of the only people who was safe and was playing everyone in the movie. Because she is a woman and is so sexualized, they misinterpret her place in society.

[dawnvancamp]

Hey Jacob!

This was a great scene to choose for your analysis. The man who harasses the costumer and Alike’s father embodies what Nkewto is saying in her article. By ostracizing them, he makes their sexual freedom seem odd. Great job!

Viewing Response 13: Cinematic Style I

In the article “Gender Is Burning: Questions of Appropriation and Subversion”, written by Judith Butler, she explains how the heterosexual lifestyle of drag performers might bring question to whether they produce a bad persona for women by association or if the drag lifestyle will begin to make others believe that gender is solely based on the imitation of people before us.

 In Nkweto’s analysis of She’s Gotta Have It, we are told that this film is responsible for creating a perception that the lens of a male gaze can lead to the thought that a black female’s sexual growth is out of the ordinary.

 The film Pariah is able to capture the life of a heterosexual black female with scenes that are able to bring emotion and thought to the audience. Throughout this film we can see the issues of males’ judgmental gaze and the generalizations made for a whole population based on a few individuals. One scene from the film that serves as the best example for these ideas would be when in the convenience store. The man harassing the lesbian customer and being aggressive towards the man with the lesbian daughter both emphasize the lack of acceptance in society.

[dawnvancamp]

Hey David!

This was a really interesting take on a scene in the movie. Alike was framed in the movie as though she was queer because of who she was, not due to a bad past experience with males. I thought it was really interesting how you mentioned that even though the story is different than typical queer stories, there is still an element of objectivity occurring. This is a unique way to look at the piece. Good job!

Viewing Response 13: Cinematic Style I

In Judith Butler’s essay, “Gender Is Burning: Questions of Appropriation and Subversion,” she argues that homosexuals are continually marginalized due to their character position in movies. Heterosexual characters are naturalized and considered as the default in movies. In doing so, gay male or gay female individuals are believed to have negative interactions with the opposite sex which is offensive to their sexuality. By incorrectly labeling individuals into correct groups, society dehumanizes their identity.

In Felly Nkweto’s essay, “‘She’s Gotta Have It’: The Representation of Black Female Sexuality on Film,” she discusses the sexuality of black females. Through Spike Lee’s film, she shows that a film label as a black female sex comedy becomes a male-centric film if the males control the act of sex. As a result, the black female’s sexuality had been seen as a supplement, not equal, to black male’s sexuality, dehumanizing the black female to a sexual object.

The cinematic style of Pariah (2011) breaks the mold of the queer movie genre mold while playing into the idea of the black female as a sexual object. In the scene in which Alike’s mother assaults her for her lesbian proclamation, this shows the two sides of this in the argument in the context of the movie. First, her identification as a true queer protagonist due to her preference, not negative experiences with males, demonstrates that her true homosexual identity is natural. However, at the same time, the majority of this movie focuses on Pariah’s sexuality which is only one of her numerous multiple diverse and engaging characteristics. By mainly focusing on her sexuality, the story subjects Pariah to a sexual object. However, by mainly focusing on her homosexuality, the commentary on homosexuality is easier for spectators to identify and understand.

[dawnvancamp]

Viewing Response 13: Pariah

In Judith Butler’s “Gender is Burning: Questions of Appropriation and Subversion,” she uses Paris is Burning to analyze the representation of gay people in film. In the film, it is mainly focused on a drag ball and the issues with identity that the movie presents. She discusses the “norms” and how those engaging in this drag are often seen as misogynist and that drag is actually offensive to women. She instead believes that drag is a representation of the idealization of gender. Also, in Felly Nkweto Simmons’ “‘She’s Gotta Have It’: The Representation of Black Female Sexuality on Film,” she discusses how the lens of a male gaze can skew a black female’s sexual freedom.

In Dee Rees’ Pariah, there is a girl in conflict with if she wants to be viewed as more feminine or masculine since she is a lesbian. In the scene where Alike and her friend Bina have a sleep over, there is a clear juxtaposition between Alike and Bina. Bina is very feminine and dresses in tight small clothes while Alike is in more baggy masculine attire. Even though it is later revealed that this was just an experiment for Bina, it shows the idealization of the female gender juxtaposed with the attempt at embracing the male look.

[dawnvancamp]

This was a great scene to look at. She is a Spanish teacher but instead of focusing on the great work that she did accomplish in singing and then the life she moved on to, they focused on how she failed in her singing endeavors and her regret. She is fictionalized through this telling of her story which takes away from the truth of the documentary.

Viewing Response 12: Documentary Film

In Trinh T. Minh-ha’s “The Totalizing Quest of Meaning,”  he expresses that “there is no such thing as a documentary” (Braudy). To Minh-ha, documentary filmmaking would be defined as an opinionated fictional retelling of a non-fictional story indicating bias is always present. There is a significant difference between truth and meaning in the context of film. This difference is shown when the film industry is influenced by the power of money to create a movie that will be profitable in the mass media market. In doing so, the movie must appear as if it is ‘real.’ Therefore, it is inevitable that any story including non-fiction documentaries will have a bias or opinion that will affect the audience by portraying certain ideas, such the bandwagon mentality or common man mentality.

In Twenty Feet from Stardom (2013), this rule about constant bias remains true. When Claudia Linnear discusses the end of her career as a background singer, it is inevitable that the audience will feel sympathy for her. She discusses her hopes and dreams that never came to fruition. When hearing this, audience members will relate this to personal experiences and other fictional stories in which the protagonist did not reach their life goal. In doing so, this documentary unintentionally fictionalized Claudia Linnear as a failed protagonist.

Bibliography

Braudy, Leo, and Marshall Cohen. Film Theory and Criticism: Introductory Readings. Oxford University Press, 2009.

[dawnvancamp]

This was a great scene to look at! They use her story to evoke emotion from the audience by adding drama to her story through multiple elements of film. She cannot just say that she is a Spanish teacher, but has to emphasize how she could not follow her dreams and the regret she feels.

Twenty Feet from Stardom (2013) Viewing Response

Through her essay titled “The Totalizing Quest of Meaning,” Rrinh T. Minh-ha claims that there is no such thing as a documentary and that there is always a biased opinion within documentaries. Through documentaries, people can convince other people of certain subjects and in a way manipulate people to feel some empathy for those being displayed in the documentary. Even though their goal isn’t to manipulate the audience, this still occurs. 

We can see how the documentary uses this concept of manipulation through Claudia Lennear’s story towards the end of the film. Claudia starts to explain how she ended up becoming a Spanish teacher instead of continuing her dream of singing. We hear her talk about how she never followed her dream and regrets some things in her life. Through her story, the audience can’t help but relate to Claudia because everyone dreams of goals and accomplishments in their life. Claudia’s story is one of someone who didn’t get to pursue her dream therefore making the audience feel bad and sympathize. Through these feelings, the creators of the documentary are “manipulating” the audience into feeling these emotions.

[dawnvancamp]

Viewing Response 12: Twenty Feet from Stardom

In “The Totalizing Quest of Meaning” Trinh T. Minh-ha discusses the use of documentaries. He claims that there is no such thing as a documentary since there will always be some element of biased in them. The films need to have added drama in order to keep an audience engaged making them skew the truth. Since documentaries are generally thought to be portraying facts, this drama makes them manipulate the truth so that the audience is more engaged in the piece.

In Twenty Feet from Stardom, Judith Hill tells how she came to the forefront when she sang at Michael Jackson’s funeral. She wanted to pursue a career as a lead singer and a solo artist, so she had to turn down the backup singing gigs that she was requested for. They used this information to play up the fact that she did absolutely no backup singing at all. She later tells that she, even in disguise, had to keep singing backup in order to just pay the bills. The exaggeration adds to the audience’s sympathy towards her because it is so strict for her to become famous that she had to give up all of these gigs.

[dawnvancamp]

This was a great scene to analyze! This was a gross scene, but it definitely induced fear in the viewer. As they examined it, we were not sure if the alien would come back to life or if it was truly dead. The close-up made it scarier since it puts the viewer into the scene and it seems as though the alien could jump at us.

Viewing Response 11: Alien

In “Film Bodies: Gender, Genre, and Excess” Linda Williams discusses the three “gross” or sensational body genres of film that are found within pornography, melodrama, and horror. She refutes the notion that heavy doses of sex, violence, and emotion merely exist within film to excite the viewer by exploring their form and function. In horror films in particular, she explains how images of blood and violence portray the body and are also utilized to induce sensations of fear in the spectator.

An example of Williams’ ideas can be seen within the film Alien (1979) directed by Ridley Scott. When the crew of the starship Nostromo extracts the alien off of Kane’s face and begins to dissect it, graphic images of the alien’s guts are shown in a close-up shot. Although this scene is considered “gross”, it is impossible to look away due to the suspense and curiosity built for what the organism will do next. This scene not only induces sensations of disgust by focusing on the unconscious body of Kane and the severed body of the organism but also successfully stimulates fear as a film of the horror genre.

[dawnvancamp]

This was a great scene to choose. We see her overreaction to the alien killing her as she has the most intense reaction out of everyone. It is even more apparent since there is also a male in the scene getting killed at the same time. She seems to embody the fear and helps the audience feel it as well.

Viewing Response #11: Alien

In “Film Bodies: Gender, Genre, and Excess”, Linda Williams discusses how although excess genres seem to be aimed at their gendered target audiences the bodies of women in all of these genres function as the primary embodiments of pleasure, fear, and pain.  She claims that these genres are considered low culture because they involve an involuntary mimicry of the emotion or sensation of the body on the screen including the fact that the body on the screen is female. 

In Alien, the character Lambert fits with this analysis of these genres. Throughout the film, Lambert expresses much more anguish at the events than her crewmates especially when the alien is coming to kill her. Her visible fear and pain elicit this mimicry from the audience, as the audience also fears for her and her pain. Moreover, the fact that she is a woman also supports William’s analysis regarding how the female body functions as the embodiment of these emotions as none of the male characters have the strong emotional response that Lambert does to her impending death. 

[dawnvancamp]

Viewing Response 11: Alien

Linda Williams’ “Film Bodies: Gender, Genre, and Excess,” discusses the different body genres. She classifies these three genres as “gross” body genres – pornography, horror, and melodrama. The use of women to portray violence and terror in horror movies is an example of the sensations that she discusses are created in these types of genres. The women are victimized in the movies and gives the viewer pleasure in watching the characters be hunted in horror films since it brings about some type of emotion in the viewer.

Alien (1979) is a good example of how women are victimized and used to create violence and terror in the film. Most people think of the crew members being victimized by the alien, but there is a scene where Ash, who is the only one who knows the true plan, attacks Ripley. In the room where he tries to kill her there are pictures of scantily clad women and he even uses a magazine to try and suffocate her. She is the victim since he is a robot and stronger than her. There could have easily been a male that discovered the true plan and got in a fight with Ash, but it was a woman evoking a more emotional response from the audience and going along with Williams’ point.

[dawnvancamp]

This was as popular scene since it portrays the elements of the western genre well. The setting of a standoff between the two sides inside the bar are what we typically think of when thinking of the western genre. The fact that they are in this more secluded town makes it easier for the men to get away with killing Quick Mike and Davey-Boy. 

VR 10: Unforgiven

In “A Semantic/ Syntactic Approach to Film Genre” Rick Altman stated that we look at films as they fit perfectly into a genre and we base a genre off of certain films that represent it. Genres also reinforce spectator expectations and desires because they know going into the film certain aspects that the film will have. In westerns, there tends to be a general atmosphere of basic elements of nature and secluded living, as well as stock characters with cowboys and sheriffs.

Unforgiven (1992) follows the storyline as William Munny and the two other cowboys on their journey to kill Quick Mike and Davey-Boy after they attacked a prostitute. This film fits into the genre of a western not only because it is set in Wyoming but because of the character relationships. It has Little Bill the sheriff and the cowboys in black hats who are men against the law and order. In the ending scene when Munny enters the house to kill those who are at fault for Ned Logan’s death. This scene shows the unlawful attitude of Munny and the action that is typical for a western film.

[dawnvancamp]

This was a good scene to choose as it really encompasses the point Altman was making. The elements that “make” a genre are shown and the way they are arranged is what makes that specific movie. When thinking about western movies, the final scene of Unforgiven is what people typically think of, so this was the perfect scene to choose!

             Each movie has a genre—whether it’s strictly one genre or a mix of multiple genres, the semantic and syntactic elements aid in classifying the genre of different films. As Rick Altman says in his article A Semantic/Syntactic Approach to Film Genre, genre can be differentiated in each film, and there are tools to help one classify. The semantic approach describes the building blocks of the genre—the acting, the costumes, the cinematography, etc., whereas the syntactic approach describes the overlying structure or arrangement of the film.

In Clint Eastwood’s film Unforgiven, the genre can be classified by following what Altman said in his article. In the iconic final scene of unforgiven, the genre of the entire film can be determined. The scene includes many semantic elements that describe a western film: cowboy hats, guns, an eerie environment, a bar setting, and everyone was in an outfit that resembled a cowboy. The scene progresses and all of these elements infuse and are shown as a whole, which is known as the syntactic approach, and the film can effectively be classified to have a western genre.

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Viewing Response 10: Unforgiven

In “A Semantic/Syntactic Approach to Film Genre,” Rick Altman discusses the generally unquestioned sector of genre. He claims that placing films into these categories or genres is common sense, so there is no point in questioning it. He then moves into the realization that there is confusion and a lack of definite answers in regard to genre. He defines semantics as the elements of film and syntactics as the way those elements are placed in the film.

Clint Eastwood’s Unforgiven is classified as the “Western” genre. There are many elements that make this film fall into this genre, but one scene in particular that stands out is the scene when English Bob first arrives in town and they go to take his guns. The Sheriff and police officers, the fact that everyone is armed, the assassins and cowboys that are in conflict with the Sheriff all would be elements that Altman would attribute as semantics of a “Western” film. How these elements are put together with the conflict arises out of the quiet and other ways the elements are used would classify as the syntactics of the scene.

[dawnvancamp]

This was a good scene to choose. The importance of gaze is stressed throughout Hooks’s piece, so Mary lifting her veil to ensure that Viola catches her disapproving look is significant. Her veil represents the idea that they have been taught not to look, so she shields her eyes with the veil. Great choice!

Viewing Response 9: Narrative Film II

“The Oppositional Gaze: The Black Female Spectator”, written by bell hooks, goes into detail about how one can feel out of place while watching a film, especially as a black female spectator. This “oppositional gaze” is mostly due to the viewers’ low levels of relatability to the content, or because the viewers surrounding the individual are not supportive of their stance on the subject at hand. This feeling of not fitting in may entice the viewer to push their boundaries. 

A scene from Daughters of the Dust (1991) that accentuates the ideas of oppositional gaze is when Yellow Mary and Viola take the ferry boat to the island. During this ride, Viola makes a point to completely disregard the fact that she has African-American heritage. She even goes on to accept the Christian god. Mary, on the other hand, is not amused by Viola’s antics, and raises her veil to show her disapproving face. This shows that Mary still has her roots and does not feel comfortable in the current setting.

[dawnvancamp]

This was a great scene to use! Hooks speaks of how the black people are constantly told not to look, but then are reprimanded and told to look at their parents when they are getting in trouble. With the removal of the white characters that are present in most films, Nana is able to assume that powerful role of staying true to her roots and commanding a gaze.

Daughters of the Dust (1991) Viewing Response

In Bell Hook’s article “The Oppositional Gaze: The Black Female Spectator”, Hook argues about black people, specifically women’s, underrepresentation in films. She also states that these women are shamed for “looking”, therefore this places white people in a point of power over black people. It isn’t until black women can be viewed and seen that power is given back to them allowing them to speak their minds and return their voices to them.

One character who embodies the ideals that Hook writes about is Nana in the film Daughters of the Dust. Nana is the matriarch of the island family and one of the most respected and “powerful” characters in the movie. In one scene early on in the movie, we can see Nana arguing with Eli. While Eli is continually arguing to Nana about leaving to the mainland, Nana argues that they should hold on to their African roots and remain on the island. Nana continually tells Eli to look her in the eyes throughout this fight. She stays true to her African roots and continually tells Eli to stay in touch with his spiritual side. It here where we can see Nana demanding the “oppositional gaze” and she is seen in an empowering light in comparison to Eli.