Feminist Criticism

You should be able to I can define “literary criticism” and explain how to use it. I can define “Feminism.” I can explain the main idea behind all feminism. I know the two questions we always ask when using feminist criticism.

What is Criticism? It’s not telling a book that it looks fat. Not picking out the good and the bad parts of a book either. Rather, literary criticism just means studying and interpreting a text. In other words, figuring out what it means.

What is Criticism? Looking in the refrigerator. Sometimes we do just stand and stare. Sometimes we say, “I want something sweet,” and we scan until we find something sweet. Sometimes we say, “I just know I put those leftovers in here!” and we look until we find them. Just like the fridge, we often look through a text for one specific thing. We often only use one “criticism” or “theory” at a time.

Feminist Criticism Feminism - A movement that tries to get and keep equal rights for women. Wait, can a man be a feminist??? If that is what feminism is, what do you think we’re looking in the “fridge” for?

Feminist Critiques Start Here: Almost all feminist theories start with the idea that society favors men and that women are oppressed. Our main question when looking at literature is: does this text add to the oppression or fight against it?

Xerox Commercial

Question #2 Once you decide if it adding to oppression or trying to stop the oppression, ask one more question: What message does this text send about women? Just like finding a theme statement but “women” will always be where you start.

Leave It To Beaver

Just To Recap When doing a Feminist Criticism we ask two questions: Does this text support the oppression of women? What message does this text send about women? Of course, then we find evidence.

Can you make these statements? I can define “literary criticism” and explain how to use it. I can define “Feminism.” I can explain the main idea behind all feminism. I know the two questions we always ask when using feminist criticism.

Practice Time

Folger’s Coffee

Klondike

“I’ll Make a Man Out of You”

Clip From Mulan

Find a theme that combines the next three commercials.

Bounty #1

Bounty #2

Swiffer