Women in Film Final Week

…making a name for herself Julie Taymor …making a name for herself

Julie Taymor’s Background She traveled as a teenager to India and Sri Lanka. Studied acting with Lacques LeCoq in Paris at the age of 16. Graduated from Oberlin College in 1974 with a degree in folklore and mythology. While at Oberlin she was invited to participate in a group professional theatre company in residence at the college. It was there she learned her methods of collaboration. After graduation she received a fellowship to travel to Japan and Indonesia. -Taken from Oberlin college’s PR website

The play that made her famous

The Lion King Taymor was responsible for adapting the film for stage in order to reinvent it as an African folk tale. In addition to directing the show, she designed puppets and masks for the show.

The Lion King’s Success The Play won 2 Tony Awards. Taymor is the first woman to win a Tony award for directing a musical. It opened in 1997. It is considered a “Mega hit” and still plays on stages all over the world today.

Taymor’s Success in Live Theatre Opera Oedipus Rex 1992 (Stravinsky) Sito Kinen Festival in Matsumoto The Magic Flute 2005 (Mozart) Metropolitan Opera Grendel 2007 (New Opera by Eliot Goldenthal)

Taymor’s Success in Live Theatre Plays/Musicals Juan Darien: A Carnival Mass (1996) The Lion King (1997) The Green Bird (2000) Spider-Man: Turn off the Dark (2010)

Taymor’s signature style and her films Stylized choreography Imaginative Production Design Vivid imagery and contrasts http://youtu.be/mX6dHWyqwNo Titus (1999) Frida (2002) Across the Universe (2007) The Tempest (2010) http://youtu.be/LbpoG092YAQ

Frida Julie Taymor considered this something different than a biopic. Ie, it is not a factual or objective account of a person’s life. She proposes the film is seen through Frida’s perspective. Frida Kahlo was nearly forgotten from art history until feminist art historians revived interest in her work in the 1970s. Frida Kahlo was the daughter of a German Jewish immigrant to Mexico. She spoke German fluently but later adopted a Mexicanidad identity which embraced the indigenous heritage from her mother’s side. This heritage influences Taymor’s film quite heavily.

Elements from Mexican culture in the film La Llorona The Mexican legend of a wailing woman who cries for her children and is rumored to steal “bad children” in the night. Calaveras a symbol of Mexican folk art associated with Dia De Los Muertos Tehuana skirts and huipiles (Traditional Mayan)

Tableaux Vivants Frida and Diego Rivera (1931)

Tableaux Vivants Self Portrait with Cropped hair (1940)

Tableaux Vivants The Two Fridas (1939)

Tableaux Vivants The Broken Column (1944)

Questions for Viewing How does the film contribute to the Hollywood traditions of the melodrama and the “Women’s Film” or “Weepies”? The article proposes that this film, by focusing on Frida’s suffering, minimizes the importance of her skill and technique as an artist. What do you think? The article proposes that by depicting Frida’s life through an assumed “Frida’s perspective” it assumes her vision as a surrealist artist was innate rather than developed. What do you think? Does the film disrupt or reinforce historical notions of womanhood, artist-as-suffering genius, and narratives about women artists? How does Julie Taymor’s vision as an artist conflict with or support Frida Kahlo’s vision as an artist?