Film and Feminism Flashcards
Women have what type of role in art?
John Berger said, “Men act and women appear. Men look at women. Women watch themselves being looked at.”
Film relates to certain social movements and formations, and what popular ideas?
Ideas regardng gender, sex, and sexuality in film
Historically, what role do women and men play in art?
Men are the artists and women are the muse and subject matter
When men and women both function as subject matter in art, in what different ways are they presented?
Historical agent, active: men
Static agent, passive: women
… When women are active in painting they are usually a symbol
Even in the face of tremendous change, one thing that remains constant is what?
The subject matter of the female body
What role do men and women typically play in films?
Male protagonists, and female love interests or supporting actors
Women filmmakers generally do what?
Stick to genres associated with women (Nicole Holofcener, Enough Said), or the opposite (Kathryn Bigelow, The Hurt Locker & Zero Dark Thirty)
Late 60s and 70s when people associated with feminism began talking about films and feminist film culture, what was the problem?
Women are portrayed in a stereotypical fashion and negative light
By painting women as powerless or manipulative, dominant cinema generally reinforces the notion of separate spheres for men and women, what is the solution to this?
A call for “positive images,” positive feedback, scientifically/photographically positive; positive as a role model for young girls, or positive as in realistic portrayal of women; film constructs reality
What type of film started to allow filmmakers to put the camera on women?
Documentaries featuring women as their subjects
How do films construct gender?
They focus less on content and more on form, how women are reprsented through style and narrative
What is a feminist counter-cinema, as mentioned by Claire Johnston?
Creates a blueprint for radical/alternative films, as well as conventional films that vary in subject matter, yet are told from a female perspective by using form strategically to do so
What do feminist counter-cinema films achieve?
Capacity to challenge patriarchal norms
What is the use of the entertainment film to the feminist counter-cinema?
Ideas derived from the entertainment film then should inform the political film, and political ideas should inform the entertainment cinema: a two way process
