Announcements

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Identity, Representation, and Media

Gender and Media •  Whatdowemeanbygender?

•  Dofilmscreatesexualstereotypes?

•  Dofilmsreflectgendernorms?

Early Feminist Critiques •  EarlycriHcismfocusedonstereotypesofwomen

andtheirnegaHveimpactonfemalespectators

•  AdvocatedforcorrecHveposiHveimagesofwomen.

Feminist Theory: Structural Theory and Psychoanalysis

Intheearly1970sClaireJohnstonwasoneofthefirsttodrawonsemioHcs(theoryofsigns/significaHon)andLacanianpsychoanalysisinlookingatthedepicHonofwomeninfilm.Shesuggestedthat:

•  Cinemadrawsmalemythof“woman”toprovideaparHcularideologicalconstrucHonofgender.

•  Womaninclassicalcinemaserveasan“emptysign”exchangedbymen;theobjectratherthanthesubjectofdesire.

JohnstonwascriHcalofHollywoodcinema,butalsosawitasanimportantsiteforstudyandintervenHon.ShecalledforanalternaHvenarraHvecinema.

Feminist Theory: Semiotics and Psychoanalysis

TogetherthesetwoframeworksprovidedfeministfilmtheoristswithwaysforthinkingabouthowtheviewerasasubjectparHcipatesinthemeaningofthefilm.

•  SemioHcs‐‐theoryofsigns.Atoolforanalyzinghowmeaningisproducedthroughlanguageandideology.

•  PsychoanalyHctheory.AtheoryofthesubjectasconsHtutedthroughsexualdifference.

Feminist Psychoanalytic Film Theory

•  LauraMulvey’sgroundbreaking1975essay,“VisualPleasureandNarraHveCinema”iniHatedasustaineddialogonhowsexualdifferenceisreproducedintheactofwatchingclassicalcinema.

•  Mulveyargueswomenhavebeenplacedinaspecific,powerlessposiHonincinema.

•  HowdoesthecinemaHcsystemacHvelyandpassivelymakethisso?

Feminist Psychoanalytic Film Theory

MulveylookstopsychoanalyHctheoryforanexplanaHonofhowcinemareproducesgenderedsubjects:

Men=acHveWomen=passive

ItwasapowerfulargumentinsofarasitshidedanalysistotherelaHonshipofthespectatortotheimage.

TheoryofSpectatorship:NotanapproachtoanalyzingthepsychologicalrelaHonshipsrepresentedinthefilm,butthewaysinwhichcinemaposiHonsusasviewers.

“The Gaze”: three looks Morethantheactoflooking,thegazeisatermusedto

describeaviewingrelaHonshipcharacterisHcofaparHcularsetofsocialcircumstances.

MulveyarguesthatthecinemaspectatorismadetoidenHfywiththemalelook,becausethecamerafilmsfromtheopHcal,aswellaslibidinal,pointofviewofthemalecharacter.Itdoesthisthroughthewaysthat:

•  Thecharactersinthefilmlookateachother.•  Theviewerlooksatthescreen.•  Thecameralooksattheeventbeingfilmed.

Example: Hitchcock •  Ver.go,AlfredHitchcock,1958

Kim Novak as Judy

Mulvey’s Critique of Pleasure in Cinema

•  LooksatnarraHvecinemaasasystemoferoHcspectacle

•  Examineshowcinemaworkswithinpatriarchalstructureofsociety

•  Aimstodisruptpleasurethroughanalysis:“Itissaidthatanalyzingpleasureorbeautydestroysit.ThatistheintenHonofthisarHcle.”

Mulvey and Psychoanalysis “PsychoanalyHcfilmtheoryisthusappropriatedhereas

apoliHcalweapon,demonstraHngthewaytheunconsciousofpatriarchalsocietyhasstructuredfilmform”

PsychoanalyHcfilmtheory:

•  UsesFreudianandLacanianframeworksforunderstandinghowidenHtyisstructuredandappliesthemtocinemaHcexperience.

•  Examinesdesireinfilm:construcHonandregulaHon

Mulvey and Pleasure

MulveyarguedthatleasurefuncHonsintwowaysinHollywoodstyleNarraHveCinema:

1.  Scopophilia:PleasureinlookingateroHcobjects(VoyeurisHcgaze)

2.Narcissism:IdenHficaHonwithonscreen(male)protagonistasacontrollingfigure

Mulvey: Scopophilia •  FromFreud:abasicdrive;pre‐genitalauto‐eroHcstage

•  SubjecHngOtherstocontrollingandcuriousgaze(objecHficaHon)

•  Voyeurism:desiretosee

CinemaasaformpromotesthisrelaHonship:•  darkspace,viewersseparated•  screen‐airacHon,promotesvoyeurisHcseparaHon

•  repressedspectatorprojectsdesire

Mulvey: Narcissism

FrenchPsychoanalystLacanusesthistermtorefertothewayinwhichouregosareconsHtuted

•  Mirrorstage:metaphorically,thechildlooksatmirrorandentersintothesymbolicorder(language).

•  ItisarecogniHon/misrecogniHon:IdenHficaHonwithreflecHonthatisdifferentfrompersonreflected

•  SubjecHvityisalwaysrelaHonalandunfixed•  MulveysuggeststhatNarraHvecinemacentersour

idenHficaHononthemorepowerfuloracHvemalesubject.

Mulvey: Image of Woman as Ambivalent

Mulveysuggeststhattheimageofthewomanisatonceanobjectofdesireandathreat.

CastraHonanxiety‐womanasbearerofthelooksparksfearbecausesherepresentthelackofaphallus.

Resolvedthroughoneoftwoways:1.  SadisHcnarraHve:womanmustbepunished

(usuallydeathormarriage)2.  FeHshism:womanservesaspolishedphallicobject

(denial)

A Feminist Counter-Cinema

MulveyadvocatesforanalternaHveCinema.Onethatdoesn’tadheretonarraHverepresentaHonalconvenHons.

•  Feministfilmmaking‐mustdeconstructanddestroythegaze

•  DestroythesaHsfacHon,pleasureandprivilege.

•  EmploystechniquesofdistanciaHon(limiHngidenHficaHon).

A Feminist Counter-Cinema WhynotjusthaveacHvefemaleprotagonists?

•  ThegazeisnotessenHallymale,'buttoownandacHvatethegaze,givenourlanguageandthestructureoftheunconscious,istobeinthe"masculine"posiHon'

•  Thegazeismasculinewithinthetermsofpatriarchalcultureandlanguage.

Feminist Filmmaking Whataretechniquesofdistancia.on?

•  FilmAboutaWomanWho…,YvonneRainer,1974StoryofawomanwhosesexualdissaHsfacHonmasksanenormousanger.

•  Removed,1999,NaomiUman1970’spornfilm‐foundfootage‐paintedonEliminatedimagesofwomenReplacedthesound

Responses to Mulvey Whataresomeques.onsyoumightraiseinresponseto

Mulvey’sargument?

Responses Inspired by Mulvey Mulvey’sessayhasinspiredmanychallengesandcri.ques

withinfeministfilmtheory:•  IsherargumentcomplicitwithnormaHveheterosexual

orderinsofarasitdeniesthepossibilityofotherformsofspectatorship?

•  Howcanshedenyformsoffemalespectatorialpleasureincinema?

•  Isthespectatoralwaysstraight?•  DomenseewomenasrepresenHngtheircastrated

selves?WhatotherpsychoanalyHcmodelsareavailable?

•  Doestheemphasisonpsychoanalysisoveremphasizethebinaryofgender?HowdowereconcileotherformsofidenHtyanddifference?

Films with women protagonists MaryAnneDoaneandothersbegantoconsiderthefemale

spectatorinrelaHonto“theWoman’sFilm”(duringthe1940snumerousfilmsbegantoappearthatfeaturedfemaleprotagoniststargeHngfemaleaudiences).

•  ALeGertoThreeWives,JosephMankiewicz,1949

•  GentlemanPreferBlondes,HowardHawks,1953

Fan Culture and Reception Theory

Mee.ngofTwoQueens,CeciliaBarriga,1991

•  Re‐usesclipsfromfilmsstaringGretaGarboandMarleneDietrich

•  UsesmoHfs,gazes,andgesturestolinktheshotsandtoimplysamesexdesire.

Recent Feminist Film Theory •  Femalespectatorshipandmasquerade•  Genderasperformed•  GenderisproblemaHc/wonderful/complex•  OpposiHonalViewing•  PsychoanalyHctheorybecomeslessmonolithicasdiscussions

movebeyondthebinaryofmasculine/femininegenderandaddressotheraspectsofidenHty(race,age,ability,etc)

•  QueertheorybroadenstheframeworksforunderstandinggenderedidenHty.

Aderthe1980s:anincreaseinfilmsbywomendirectorsandwithcomplexrepresentaHonsofgenderandsexuality

•  AnAngelatMyTable,JaneCampion,1989•  ThingsYouCanTellbyJustLookingatHer,RodrigoGarcia,2000

Gender in Recent Cinema

Aderthe1980s:anincreaseinfilmsbywomendirectorsandfilmswithmorecomplexrepresentaHonsofgenderandsexuality

AnAngelatMyTable,JaneCampion,1989

ThingsYouCanTellbyJustLookingatHer,RodrigoGarcia,2000

bell hooks: “TheOpposiHonalGaze:BlackFemaleSpectators”

  hooks essay responds to the limitations of feminist film theory and theorists of black cinema.

  She draws on both these traditions to argue for a more complex discourse on how identity is constituted through the practices of viewing, interpreting and creating representations.

hooks: history and defiant looks

•  Lookscanbeaformofresistancetoauthority•  Inslaveryblacklookingwasregulated•  hooksnotesthereplicaHonofthistraumainblack

parenHngandspectatorship.Sheisofferingahistoricalunderstandingofspectatorshipratherthanapsychicone.

•  MichelFoucaultoffersamodelforthewaysinwhichpowerreproducesitselfthroughsimilarmechanismsofinternalizedcontrol/self‐regulaHon

hooks: against a totalizing gaze

•  Thecinemawasrecognizedbyblacksasaformthroughwhichwhitevalueswererepresentedandreproduced.

•  TherewasalwaysanunderstandingofcriHcalspectatorship‐‐defiantformsoflooking.

•  Thecinemaandtelevisionwereaprivatespaceinwhichblackscouldlookback.

•  hookscitesStuartHallandFranzFanontoassertthatwhiterepresentaHonsofblacknessarenottotalizing.Therearealwaysspacesofblackagency.

Complex and Conflicted Relationships to Dominant Visual Culture

“WelaughedattelevisionshowslikeOurGangandAmos’n’Andy,atthesewhiterepresentaHonsofblackness,butwealsolookedatthemcriHcally.”‐‐hooks

•  Inhisdocumentary,ColorAdjustment(1992),MarlinRiggs(dir,TonguesUnited)presentsthehistoryofblackrepresentaHonsonTelevisionfromthe1940s‐1980s,contextualizedthroughinterviewswithviewers,actors,directorsandotherprofessionals.

•  RiggsconveyshowtheacHverelaHonshipofviewerswasvariedandinvolvednegoHaHngmulHplereadings,relatedtothespecificpossibiliHesoftheirhistoricalcontext.

•  ThefilmsuggestthatthenoHonofprovidingmoreposiHveimagesbringsanewsetofmoresubtle,insidiousproblems.

•  TherolesofAfricanAmericansactors/actressescanbeseenascomplicitwithhegemonicordominantrepresentaHon.Howdoweunderstandthecomicself‐representaHonofthecharacterstheyhelpedtodevelop?

Color Adjustment Marlin Riggs, 1992

•  DocumentstherepresentaHonandrecepHonofimagesofBlackAmericansfromtheearlyhistoryoftelevision.

bell hooks:

•  Blackwomen’sspectatorshipwasdifferentfromblackmen’s(andwhitewomen).BlackmencouldtakeupthephallocentricposiHonoflookingatwhitewomenasobjectsofdesire.

•  CiHngMaryAnnDoan,hooksnotestheproblemofageneralizedconceptof“women”asobjectinclassicalfilm:Itiscomplicitwiththedominantpatriarchalculture,inthatisdoesn’tallowthepossibilityofarHculaHngwhatisrepressedinclassicalcinema.(Atotalizingviewthatdoesn’taccountforopposiHon)

bell hooks:

•  hookspushesustoconsiderthemulHplefuncHonsofwomeninfilm.

•  hooksdescribesblackwomenviewersvariedresponsestomainstreamfilm.ThoughtheysharethesameconflictedrelaHonshiptotheirabsenceorsubordinateposiHonsonscreen.SomeresistthepleasureofidenHficaHon,othersparHcipatebutexpressedthedifficultconflictsitrequired.

Multiple forms of Opposition

hooksproposesthatopposiHonalspectatorshipismorethanresisHng.MorethanreacHveitiscrea.veandinvolvesarangeoflookingrelaHonsthat:

•  Contest•  Resist•  Revision•  Interrogate•  Invent

Illusions, Julie Dash, 1982 (dir., of Daughters of the Dust)

SetinaHollywoodstudioduringWWII,theperiodof“theWoman’sFilm.”Mignon,themainprotagonist,isanexecuHveinastudiowhopassesforwhiteandusesherpowerwithinthestudiotosupportEstherJeeter,ayoungblackwomanwhoprovidesvocaldubsforwhiteactresses.

•  hooksnoteshowthefilmoffersspectatorsrepresentaHonsthatchallengedominantnoHonsof‘racial’idenHty.

•  ThefilmportraysthecomplexdynamicsofpassingapparentonlytoMignonandEsther,throwingintoquesHonthewhitemalegazeandit’scapacitytoknowanddefine.

•  Itaddressthesimultaneousabsenceandpresenceofblackwomeninmainstreamcinema.

New Formulations of Identity

hooksdrawsonBriHshculturalstudiestheorist,StuartHall,tosuggestthat:

1.  IdenHtyisnotreflectedinrepresentaHons,butconsHtutedthroughthem.

2. AnalternaHvecinemacanparHcipateinconstrucHngculturalidenHty,notjustamoreaccurateorcompleximageofrealitythanprovidedbystereotypes

3. Processesoflookingthatarecounter‐memory(fromFoucault‐meaninganintervenHonincollecHvememory)areawaytoknowthepresentandimaginethefuturedifferently.

4. Notsimplyofferingdiverse,“realisHc,”orposiHverepresentaHons.“Offerpointsofradicaldeparture.”

New Formulations of IdentityCertainlytheseideasareapplicabletoarangeofrepresentaHonsand

posiHonsofspectatorship.

TheremanyexamplesofalternaHvefilmsnegoHaHngandenvisioningcomplexityofculturalidenHtybegantoappearsincethe1970s.

•  BushMama,HaileGerima,1974•  KillerofSheep,CharlesBurnei,1976•  ChanisMissing,WayneWang,1982•  WhoKilledVincentChin?,ReneeTajimaandChrisHneChoy,1987•  MyAmerica—orHonkifYouLoveBuddha,ReneeTajima‐Pena,

1997•  SmokeSignals,ChrisEyre,1998

Do the Right Thing Spike Lee, 1989

•  SetinBrooklynamidstandrepresenHngraceconflictsbetweenwhiteethnicandblackcommuniHes.

•  Ironicallyengagesarangeofstereotypes.

•  Self‐consciouslyarHculatesconflictaroundtheroleofrepresentaHoninreproducingracism.

Killer of Sheep Charles Burnett (US 1976)

AboutdailylifeinLosAngelesWai’sneighborhood.Focusesonthepleasuresandstrugglesofamanwhoworksinasheepslaughterhouse.

InfluencedbyItalianNeorealistCinema

ThefilmwaschosenbytheNaHonalSocietyofFilmCriHcsasoneofthe100EssenHalFilms.In1990,itwasselectedforpreservaHonintheUnitedStatesNaHonalFilmRegistrybytheLibraryofCongress.

Shohat and Stam: Stereotypes and the Struggle Over Representation

•  MostcriHquesofracistorotherwisebiasedrepresentaHoninmediahasfocusedonaccuracy.

•  ShohatandStamsuggestthatweshidfromjudgingmediaintermsofaccuracytoconsideringtheparHcularpointofviewsandvaluesthattheyproject.YoucanhaveamoreaccuratefilmthatismorecolonialistorracistandamorefantasHcalonethatconfrontssuchvalues.

•  WhileallnegaHvestereotypeshaveahurtulimpact,notallhavethesamepower.

•  TheysuggestamovefromdiscussingposiHveandnegaHveimagestoengagementwithdiscourse/voice.Thisisinpartanissueofself‐determinaHoninrepresentaHon.

How is voice/representation mediated in cinema?

•  AcHng:whoplayswhomhasbeenconsideredasignificantcontribuHngfactorinnotjustauthenHcitybutthenegoHaHonofacommunity’srepresentaHon

•  PeoplerepresenHngidenHtyorcommunityinhigherleveldecision‐makingroles(producers,directors,writers,sponsors)

•  Plot,dialog,backgroundsoundandformaldevicesofmise‐en‐scenecanallcontributetostereotypicalportrayalsofrelaHonshipsamongcharactersandgroups.

•  LanguageanddialectasamediatorinrepresentaHonsofidenHty.•  SocialandculturalaspectsofrecepHon(dominantideasabout

idenHty)shapetheinterpretaHonofaworkbeyondtheproducer’sintenHons.

bell hooks on Spike Lee

•  bellhooksonyoutubediscussesSpikeLee