Women in Film Week 1

Basic Concepts of Gender Theory The difference between Sex and Gender: Biological sex is determined by chromosomes. Gender is a social construction. Some scholars also view gender as a performance. Hegemonic Patriarchy : The social structure which assumes men and masculinity are inherently superior to females and femininity. Hegemony is a complex set of beliefs and assumptions that reinforce the dominant ideology of a particular time and space.

The Feminisms (Part 1) First Wave Feminism: The movement which sought to improve social and legal circumstances of women. This movement included the goal of earning women the right to vote. These efforts finally succeeded with the ratification of the 19 th Amendment in Second Wave Feminism(s) : The renewal of efforts to fight against sexism and sexual discrimination in the 1960s. The movement was not unified and included liberal feminism, radical or cultural feminism, and materialist (Marxist) feminism. Third Wave Feminism : Has been defined in a variety of different ways. The main thing to remember is that it questioned some of the assumptions behind second wave feminism, including the apparent absence of focus on the realities facing women of color from the agenda.

The Feminisms (Part 2) Beware of overlap and confusion! Liberal Feminism seeks to improve the conditions of women without changing the existing social structure. (ie. increasing employment opportunities for women in environments traditionally controlled by men.) Cultural or Radical Feminism is a little tricky. Some say radical feminists assert there are essential differences between men and women and that feminine characteristics are inherently superior. In any case, radical feminists seek to abolish the system of patriarchy because of its structure and history which have privileged men. (ie. The system is broken, create a new woman-centered system.) Materialist or Marxist Feminism calls for an analysis and deconstruction of the material conditions of womanhood in all of her particular and individual differences. Also calls for a questioning of the historic conditions surrounding the construction of gender.

Basic Concepts of Film Theory Film as cultural artifact, as media text, which can be “read” like any other “text.” Reception theory: Encoding and decoding the text. Authorship (auteur theory), dominant readings, oppositional readings, negotiated readings. Film form and the grammar of film: Shot/composition, mise-en-scène, editing/pacing, cinematography, production design, sound design, etc. Other terms: narrative, realism, experimental form, representation, stereotypes

Intersections between Gender and Film Theories Objectification, Fetishization, Exoticization Scopophilia, voyeurism, and the “male gaze” (“to-be-looked- at-ness”) Sexualized representations – empowering or disempowering? Virgin-Whore dichotomy (vamps and saints) Women’s Films and Chick Flicks

The Early Innovators Alice Guy-Blaché First woman filmmaker. She made films from 1896 through First to create fictional narrative film (This is often credited to Georges Méliès) Worked with synchronized sound as early as 1903 (Hollywood didn’t switch to sound till about 1929). First to work with color (both hand tinting and a version of muted tone color film). First female to head a studio (Solax films). “La Vie du Crist” was her most ambitious, complex, and highly praised film. She was unable to get work after 1920 (most likely due to increasing sexism in the industry). Please watch the video linked to Youtube on your modules section.

Other Important Women in the Early Days Director: Lois Weber Actresses: Lillian Gish, Mary Pickford, Theda Bara, Clara Bow, Mae West Screenwriter: Frances Marion

The Early Innovators Part 2 Maya Deren (born Eleanora Derenkowsky in 1917) Avant-Garde Experimental Filmmaker She was a poet and a dancer before becoming a filmmaker. She believed filmmaking was poetry in visual moving images. (This, and the visual tone of her films, indicate a clear influence of surrealists, especially Luis Buñuel.) She claims her films exhibit a distinctly female time flow. She compares this to a male time flow where emphasis is on the “now” moments. Her short film At Land (1944) exhibits this time flow. She earned a Guggenheim grant to travel to Haiti to study and film Haitian Voudun ritual. This resulted in the book Divine Horsemen: The Living Gods of Haiti (Book 1953, Film 1985) and subsequent posthumously produced documentary film of the same title. Meshes of the Afternoon (1943) was her first film and remains her most famous. She died poor at the age of 44. Please watch the video linked on your modules page.

For further reading Benshoff, Harry M. and Griffin, Sean: America on Film, “Part IV, Gender and American Film” Mulvey, Laura: “Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema” (On Canvas)