Thus sexist films like Fatal Attraction present a purportedly valid but problematic paradigm scenario about the omnivorously sexual career woman, and about the "appropriate" level of male emotional response to such women. his resulted in and reproduces myths about women and an increasing concern with questions of eth- femininity. Please contact me if you would like more information or if you have comments. Key issues are often seen only in terms of some refinement or qualification of psychoanalytic theory. I watched an old James Bond film with my parents a few weeks back, and the sheer ridiculousness of how the Bond girls were shown, treated and portrayed was enough fuel really get the feminist spark burning. Thomas Wartenberg draws on this kind of notion in offering a critical reading of White Palace, a Hollywood film which seems to attend to factors of class and ethnicity [Wartenberg 1995]. An emotional response to a film (or other artwork) can be rational, permitting positive claims about the viewer: that she is active not passive, cognizing not simply reacting, and potentially critical not simply absorbing ideological effects. Feminist philosophers present alternative views about the construction of women as subjects of knowledge, vision, or pleasure. In contrast to Mulvey’s ‘male gaze’, many filmmakers now employ the ‘female gaze’. Theory stands somehow over and above the more primitive "data": it is ideal, abstract, permanent, austere, universal, and true. Although it often gets reduced to key theoretical—primarily psychoanalytic—analyses of spectatorship from the 1970s and 1980s, it has always been and continues to be a dynamic area with many objects of focus and diverse methodological practices. This comedy climaxes in a scene she describes as shockingly voyeuristic, a close and lingering examination of the (female) infant's genitalia. Early feminist film theory mostly focused on spectatorship (male / female), objectification, fetishization, male gaze and image of woman based on psychoanalytic interpretation. } Critics also examined the stereotypes women were depicted as in films. on: function(evt, cb) { These models may romanticize women, but they offer more complex accounts of the social nature of the self than the Althusserian-Lacanian ones, since the self is essentially configured in relation to others (mothers, children, sisters, friends, lovers). Jane Gaine wrote an essay titled ‘White Privilege and Looking Relations: Race and Gender in Feminist Film Theory’, in which she examined the erasure of black women by white male filmmakers in cinema. See more ideas about film theory, feminist, film. bell hooks argues for example that, Mainstream feminist film criticism in no way acknowledges black female spectatorship. Feminist film theory Feminist film theory Course Bachelor’s level 7,5 credits (ECTS) Spring 2021 Spring 2022 Study pace 100% Time Mixed time. Mulvey's essay is heavily invested in theory. listeners: [], In 1981, film journal ‘Jump Cut’, published an issue dedicated to reviewing the lack of lesbian identities in films. Alternatives to psychoanalytic feminist film theory raise new questions about the representation of women in films because of their different accounts of the self, agency, identity, and the cultural surroundings of the subject. Laurie Shrage argues that concentration on film texts has led to an universalizing of psychological subjects and an overemphasis on readers'/viewers' passivitiy [Shrage 1990/1993]. Feminist Film Theory 1. feminist film theory itself, phenomena of the late 1960s and early 1970s: the women's movement, independent filmmaking, and academic film studies. Feminist scholars began taking cues from the new theories arising from these movements to analyzing film. Feminist film theory criticizes classical cinema for its stereotyped representation of women. Unsurprisingly, her view has been much criticized and further refined, as writers (including Mulvey herself) have noted issues raised by differences among women, phenomena like male masochism, or genres that function in distinctive ways, such as comedy, melodrama, and horror. Its aim is to adequately represent female subjectivity and female desire on the silver screen. (Inggris) Documents from the Women's Liberation Movement, Special Collections Library, Duke University Significant alternative feminist theories might also inform feminist film theory. All Rights Reserved, White Privilege and Looking Relations: Race and Gender in Feminist Film Theory. Ann Ferguson in Blood at the Root describes women's traditional unpaid forms of labor as a form of "sex-affective production" which has been exploited by men [Ferguson 1989]. Feminist Film Theory. The development of feminist film theory was influenced by second wave feminism and the development of women's studies in the 1960s and '70s. They reflect more textured and nuanced views about the self's complexity and emphasze the film viewer's potential to construct critical readings. Added to this theory by Laura Mulvey's now-classic essay, "Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema" [Mulvey, 1975], was the feminist claim that men and women are differentially positioned by cinema: men as subjects identifying with agents who drive the film's narrative forward, women as objects for masculine desire and fetishistic gazing. Feminist Film Theory, generally is about theoretical film criticism that arises from feminist politics and theories governed by the second wave feminism rooted from sociological theories concentrated on the how the public scrutinizes how women delivers the attitudes, scenarios, and characters given to them to portray in a particular film in a television or cinema screens. Writer bell hooks also wrote on race and feminist film theory, along with Michele Wallace. What is the relevant theory of feminism itself? Jane Flax in ³Women Do Theory² describes patriarchal theory as "territorial" or "entrepreneurial" something used to prop up forms of dominance [Flax 1979]. While Cavell's writings on film are idiosyncratic and not necessarily feminist, they offer a springboard for philosophical critiques of assumptions about subjectivity and pleasure still dominant in psychoanalytic feminist film theory [Cavell 1981, 1987]. Feminist theory has been foundational to the establishment and development of film studies as a discipline. feminists can give up the epistemological ambitions of feminist film theory and pursue feminist critical and political goals unencumbered by fears of the alienating effects of representation. History. Critics also examined the stereotypes women were depicted as in films. Many of us when watching films, want to see more realistic women. Thus Barbara Creed's book The Monstrous-Feminine argues that the fact that women in horror films are often not victims but monsters "necessitates a rereading of key aspects of Freudian theory, particularly his theory of the Oedipus complex and castration crisis." Carolyn Korsmeyer argues that feminist aesthetics offers a picture of emotional response to artworks different from the traditional one and from that employed in mainstream feminist film theory [Korsmeyer 1993]. what is Feminist film Theory? Allegedly science/theory has the virtues of being unifying, coherent, well-grounded, and explanatory. Similarly, feminist philosophers like Karen Hanson question why writers in film studies have assumed science as a paradigm of theory [Hanson 1995]. Feminist film theory is a theoretical film criticism derived from feminist politics and feminist theory influenced by Second Wave Feminism and brought about around the 1970s in the United States. })(); We are launching soon, be the first one to hear about it, © Copyright Selfish Darling 2020. Feminist film theory is started in the 1920s. This included how passive or active they were, and the amount of screen time they were given. Regrettably, it also does not include footnotes, as I have not had time to format them and enter them. Far less often, Mulvey's critics have adopted more sharply different theoretical bases such as cultural studies, identity politics, deconstruction, or the philosophy of Foucault. Early feminists took consciousness raising as a model for feminist theory because it is necessarily both experiential and transformative. But Modleski does not link this sort of voyeurism to an individual viewer's castration anxiety or threat to subjectivity. } Feminism Key Film Theories (Taken from Cinema Studies: the Key Concepts (2 nd Ed.) The dominant psychoanalytic focus has created a narrow framework for the analysis of subjects, pleasure, and desire, while alternative feminist accounts are not considered. Postmodern feminists also present alternatives to a Lacanian-Althusserian theory of the self or subject, since they question standard notions of human identity based on categories of bodily integrity, race, ethnicity, class standpoint, or even gender. Films with the female gaze are often notable for the way the female characters are presented through dress, and in their relationships between, often male, characters. So, it’s crazy to think that once, there was a time when women were treated in films in such a way that we cringe to watch them now. Feminist scholars began taking cues from the new theories arising from these movements to analyzing film. This film uses the true-life stories of its all … Its aim is to adequately represent female subjectivity and female desire on the silver screen. The development of feminist film theory was influenced by second wave feminism and the development of women's studies within the academy. Mulvey assumed a general picture of cinema as a symbolic medium which, like other aspects of mass culture, forms spectators as bourgeois subjects. If you continue browsing the site, you agree to the use of cookies on this website. However, Wartenberg shows that the film relies on a stereotyped representation of the older, divorced woman, romanticizes the working class, and oversimplifies the nature of class divisions. pp. Feminist film theory however is often universalizing, and it makes use of complex language and alienating categories which deny women's experiences as active spectators enjoying films or reading them critically. Managing Your PCOS with Megan Hallett – Supplements, Birth order and how it affects your personality. Feminist Film Theory Definition . She used Lacanian psychoanalysis to ground her account of gendered subjecivity, desire, and visual pleasure. forms: { Feminist film theory however is often universalizing, and it makes use of complex language and alienating categories which deny women's experiences as active spectators enjoying films or reading them critically. Ed. of feminist film theory as distinct from and superior or even foundational film! 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