Feminist Film Research Articles

A Feminist Film Analysis of the Representation of Woman in Chinese Film Noir: Based on the Bold, the Corrupt, and the Beautiful

The cinema industry has always presented female figures from a patriarchal perspective, propagandizing the men’s authority over women. The typical character “female fatale” with fatal sexual attraction in the genre film noir has already been the focus of many feminist scholars. The essay focuses on the issue of the representation of women in Chinese film noir through examining the female figures in The Bold, the Corrupt, and the Beautiful (2017) by close textual analysis. Three heroines, the mom Madame Tang, the daughters Tang Ning and Tang Zhen, as the embodiment of “female fatale” drive the film’s plot and articulate their agency of resisting the masculine power. However, the study will prove that the Chinese female fatale conventionally cannot escape from the fatal tragedy and pessimism in their unsolvable dilemma.

Queer and Feminist Futures: The Importance of a Future and Mobilizing Feminist Film in Post-Civil Rights Times

This article is concerned with alternate concepts of temporality, especially alternative future imaginings that are more relevant now than ever before. Through conceptualizing time ruptures and intervals, we attempt to dismantle the politics of teleologically mandated linear temporalities, which can operate – if not questioned – as some type of repetition without any actual change which would open up important ways of thinking about potentialities of the new. We attempt to think about time and the future through queer and Deleuzian feminist film theory, specifically the feminist film Born in Flames. We argue that cinema affects us, opens us up to thinking about the potentials of the new, futurity and new ways of connecting (new forms of communities), and therefore holds crucial transformative potential.

The silent Tibetan women and their visual exclusions in Pema Tseden’s ‘Tibetan Trilogy’

It can be observed that Pema Tseden’s ‘Tibetan Trilogy’ is a series of male-dominant films. Men, at times, serve as ‘images’ used to represent Tibetan culture and ethnicity. Women in the trilogy can be considered silent and sometimes they are outside of the dichotomy of ‘image’ and the play of the ‘look’. This visual representation of gendered politics can be seen to differ from feminist film studies readings of ‘woman as image’ and ‘man as bearer of the look’ in traditional (Hollywood) mainstream cinema. Meanwhile, the trilogy rejects any objectification and exoticisation of Tibetan culture and landscape. This paper therefore takes into consideration a postcolonial feminist perspective to examine if it is possible to understand Pema Tseden’s refusal to include visually women in his ‘Tibetan Trilogy’ as one way in which he rejects the objectification and exoticisation of the Tibetan culture. In addressing this question, this paper will adopt the lines of inquiry, asking: can the ‘Tibetan women’ speak? If yes, from where can they speak? What can they speak? In this way, this paper raises questions for whether and how the permissible subjectivity of female characters in the trilogy can speak, be heard or be seen.

Semiotics Theory Analysis in the Movie “Ave Maryam” (2018)

A movie must have a purpose and a message according to the directors’ vision and plans. There are many ways to convey the message to viewers around the world, explicitly or implicitly. Yet, every individual has their own perspective, ideology, opinion, and culture background, and this diffence results in different interpretation of a movie. Nevertheless, viewers can still analyze a movie with theories that has been studied for generations, for instance semiotics theory, feminist film theory, psychoanalysis, etc. We will analyze how Robby Ertanto, as the director, the writer, and the producer of Ave Maryam, conveys messages through symbols, or as we call it the semiotics theory.

How does she look?: Bigelow’s vision/visioning Bigelow

ABSTRACT The critical and popular reception of Bigelow’s work has long pivoted on her gaze: what constitutes the ‘Bigelow look’?; how is it distinctive, unsettling, or otherwise surprising? This curiosity, frequently centred on her command of action and violence, is key also to her unusually heightened visibility as a woman filmmaker who can claim membership of what Deborah M. Sims terms the ‘celebrity directors’ club; that is, ‘an elite community of auteur filmmaking [coded] as masculine’ (2014). At the same time, interwoven in this status is the gaze on Bigelow, since her recognition factor has unquestionably been bolstered too by her photogenic looks, style, and deportment. Yet analysis of this regime of visibility remains limited in feminist film criticism, no doubt because it risks compounding the kind of gendered scrutiny and conservative discourses of judgmental comparison that feminist film criticism seeks to challenge. Analysing images of Bigelow that have circulated in the public domain as well as the critical reception of her work, this article interrogates the duality of the question, ‘How does she look?’, identifying how the entangled practices of looking surrounding Bigelow have fuelled the cultural prominence she holds as a woman director in contemporary US cinema.

Weavers of Film

This article uses AT&T’s 1910s–30s “Weavers of Speech” campaign to read on-screen telegraph and telephone operators as vernacular translators of cinematic syntax and hypervisible avatars for the invisible cutter girls who “knitted the pieces of film together” on studio lots. While operators largely played peripheral roles in classical films, two transitional periods saw them rise to the surface of story en masse, as if temporarily hired to sew over a rupture. A comparative analysis of telephone girls’ enlistment as temp techno-pedagogues during US film’s introduction of crosscutting and European film’s polyglot transition to sound suggests women’s film-weaving labor as an alternative to the surgical rhetoric (suture) and auteur models that dominate theories of film editing. More broadly, the article suggests that the culturally conspicuous feminization of low-level information labor offers feminist film historians a crucial “mediatrix” for uncovering woman workers hidden in the cut of film.

Superheroines and Sexism: Female Representation in the Marvel Cinematic Universe

The Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) is the highest-grossing film franchise of all time and since the premiere of Iron Man in 2008, it has risen to fame as a source of science-fiction entertainment. Sexism in the film industry often goes brushed aside but the widespread success of Marvel Studios calls attention to their treatment of gender roles. This paper explores the progression of six female superheroes in the MCU and what effect feminist movements have had on their roles as well as upcoming productions in the franchise. This paper used an interdisciplinary, mixed-methods design that studied movie scripts and screen time graphs. 14 MCU movies were analyzed through a feminist film theory lens and whenever a female character of interest was chosen, notes were taken on aspects including, but not limited to, dialogue, costume design, and character relationships. My findings showed that females in the MCU are heavily sexualized by directors, costume designers, and even their male co-stars. As powerful as some of these women were found to be, it was concluded that Marvel lacks in female inclusivity. Marvel’s upcoming productions, many of which are female-focused, still marginalize the roles of their superheroines which is a concern for the future of the film industry. Marvel is just one franchise but this study shows how their treatment of female characters uphold patriarchal structures and perpetuate harmful stereotypes that need to be corrected in the film industry as a whole.

Review: Girl Head: Feminism and Film Materiality, by Genevieve Yue

Review: <i>Girl Head: Feminism and Film Materiality</i>, by Genevieve Yue

Reframing Madness with Avant-Garde Film: Lina Mangiacapre’s Feminist Collaboration at the Asylum

ABSTRACT This article addresses Lina Mangiacapre's avant-garde feminist filmography, a body of work that, despite recent growth in Italian feminist film studies, remains a neglected area of study. Specifically, the article investigates Mangiacapre's avant-garde featurette Follia come poesia (1979), the fruit of her two-year occupation of the local Frullone Asylum and artistic collaboration with the institutionalised women there. After situating Mangiacapre within the larger Italian radical psychiatry movement, the article distinguishes her subversive feminist theory and praxis from more mainstream sexual difference theory. Through a critical analysis of Follia come poesia, the article argues that Mangiacapre reframes the concept of madness as more than to-be-cured-ness through cinematography, editing, and sound. It concludes that through cinematic prowess, Mangiacapre provides an audiovisual exhibition of her subversive theory, interrogates conventions surrounding madness, foregrounds the individuality of each incarcerated woman, and constructs a representation of the institutionalised as active, mobile, creative subjects.

Portrayal of Women from Stereotype to Empowered in Film Studies

Nowadays, without films, we can't really imagine contemporary India society. Although this is Unable to conceptualize a film without a 'story.' A film must 'tell' and 'show' Story, unravelling layer by layer, introducing the magic of the silver narrative on the screen. The stories rooted in culture are praised by the viewer. More so, if they are widely acknowledged in oral or written form, right from the beginning, there has been an indelible connection between literature and films. The policy begins with depictions of women protagonists in mainstream Bollywood films. This topic is considered appropriate because women are a large part of the population of the country and their on-screen representation is thus critical in deciding the promotion of current stereotypes in the country in the society . The paper begins with a discussion on the field of feminist film criticism and how mainstream Hindi Cinema has restricted itself to defined sketches of womanhood. Cinema has limited itself to established sketches of femininity

FEMINISM AND REPRESENTATION OF WOMEN IDENTITIES IN INDIAN CINEMA: A CASE STUDY

The film is one of the most popular sources of entertainment worldwide. Plentiful films are produced each year and the amount of spectators is also huge. Films are to be called as the mirror of society. Because they portray the actual reality of the society through the cinematography. Thus, cinema plays an essential role in shaping views about, caste, creed and gender. There are many pieces of research made on the representation of women or gender in films. But, through this research, the researcher wants to analyse in-depth about the character representation of women in the Malayalam film industry how strong the so-called Mollywood constructs the strongest and stoutest women characters in Malayalam cinema in the 21st-century cinema. The study titled “Feminism and Representation of Women Identities in Indian Cinema. A Case Study” confers how women are portrayed in the Malayalam cinema in the 21st century and how bold and beautiful are the women characters in Malayalam film industry are and how they act and survive the social stigma and stereotypes in their daily life. All sample films discuss the plights and problems facing women in contemporary society and pointing fingers towards the representation of women in society. The case study method is used as the sole Methodology for research. And Feminist Film theory and theory of patriarchy applied in the theoretical framework.

“We were released into the so‐called Western world we knew absolutely nothing about”: Professional experiences of female employees in the Lithuanian Film Industry from the postcolonial point of view

AbstractIn this paper, we investigate the professional experiences of female employees. Furthering ourselves from the textual film analysis prevalent in the Baltic film studies, we turn toward experiences of female film workers by using intermethodological approach, combining feminist film studies and psychology. We are focusing on the 30‐year period of the existence of independent Lithuania, which we understand as a post‐Soviet period, a time after the collapse of the Soviet Union, a postcolonial condition in which the values of the old system meet the new ones influenced by the processes of globalization. Using the method of thematic analysis, we analyze the interviews of 22 women of various age groups working in various positions in the film industry.

THE REPRESENTATION OF FEMALE CHARACTER IN EDGE OF TOMORROW (2014) FILM BASED ON FEMINIST FILM CRITICS

(Title: The Representation of Female Character in “Edge of Tomorrow” (2014) Film Based on Feminist Film Critics). This research analyzes the female character in Edge of Tomorrow, Rita Vrataski. This research intends to understand how female character is described in the film and how female character is described according to feminist film critic. The method used is descriptive qualitative method. This research also uses theory character and characterization in film and theory feminist film critic. As the result, Rita is described as a female soldier who has characteristics as committed, brave, assertive, strong, muscular, intelligent and skillful soldier. Even though Rita, as the female character who has man’s characteristics, she still needs help from another male character. Rita character in this film is still passive because the one who finishes the mission in the story is the male character, William Cage. This film proves that male domination still exists in story of film. Thus, the female stereotype has been attached in film and it is difficult to change it.Keywords: female character ,women in film , feminist film critic

Asynchronicity of Sound and Vision. Towards a Feminist Semiotics of Cinematic Rhythm

This essay is an inquiry into the intersections between feminist experimental film and cinematic formalism since the 1970s. It sheds light on how three German filmmakers—Ulrike Rosenbach, Ute Aurand, and Anja Czioska—have explored the material properties of the medium to dismantle conventional modes of cinematic representation. By experimenting with techniques of fragmentation and distortion and by working against the conventions of continuity and synchronization, these feminist filmmakers disrupt the rhythmic patterning that is rightly understood as a hallmark of cinema. Their formal interventions into the material conditions of filmic representation can be read in the context of a larger debate in feminist film theory over how to break down and subvert the traditional roles assigned to women in the mainstream and mass media. (SB)

The end of intimate politics in Yorgos Lanthimos’ The Lobster

ABSTRACT This article examines Yorgos Lanthimos’ 2015 film The Lobster in relation to debates about intimate politics in contemporary queer scholarship and queer cinema studies. Rather than reading the film as a satire on compulsory coupling, this article teases out the film’s depiction of both normative and antinormative practices as parallel forms of sexual citizenship. Examining the relationship between normative enactments of gender and sexuality and the regulation of the species boundary, we argue that The Lobster reveals three dichotomies at the core of heteronormative cultural mythologies: male and female, coupled and uncoupled, human and nonhuman. In examining the complex interplay between these categories throughout The Lobster, this article foregrounds the important intersections between critical approaches to normativity established within feminist and queer film studies, and emergent approaches to nonhuman and more-than-human ethics in the environmental humanities.

The Development of Stereotypical Representations of Gende in Selected Disney Films A Feminist Reading

This paper starts with an introduction illustrating the rationale behind the choice of the topic and the research objectives. Then, literature review spans the books, dissertations and articles both on gender stereotypes and gender role in recent Disney films. Then, through the feminist film theoretical framework, the paper studies Moana as a positive heroine, who is not a princess, but the daughter of the chief of her tribe and Maui, the demi-god, and how the relationship between both of them influences each other in their representation of gender values. Also, this paper aims at analyzing the motifs that portray Moana, as a progressive female character as opposed to Disney princesses, and Maui’s development as a positive role model for the male audience. The study also sheds light on some gender stereotypical traits that still exist in Moana and Maui. Finally, the study ends with a conclusion of how gender stereotypes are portrayed in recent Disney animated films and how those stereotypes have changed over time.

Towards a Latin American feminist cinema

This article contextualises and characterises the history and film production of the Colombian feminist film collective Cine Mujer, and analyses how its collective and collaborative practices challenged auteurism. From 1978 to the late 1990s, Cine Mujer produced several short films, documentaries, series, and videos, and acted as a distribution company of Latin American women’s cinema. Its twenty years of activity possibly make it one of the world’s longest-lasting feminist film collectives. Yet, its history is largely unknown in Colombia and abroad. Thus, the question that motivates this article is related to how to inscribe Cine Mujer in film history without uncritically reproducing the methodologies that cast a shadow on women’s cinema. Throughout its trajectory, Cine Mujer transitioned from being an independent cinematic project interested in artistic experimentation to a media organization that produced educational videos commissioned by governmental and global institutions and often targeted at marginalised women. Based on interviews conducted with some of the Cine Mujer members, the Cine Mujer’s catalogues, and its films and videos, I organise Cine Mujer’s corpus of work in three main modes of production that disrupt the role of the auteur and the centrality of the director.

Digital opportunities for feminist film historiography

This paper discusses some of the key methodological challenges emerging from the AHRC project Reframing Vivien Leigh: Stardom, Archives and Access, led by PI Dr. Lisa Stead at the University of Exeter. This twenty-month project examined how the legacies of screen star Vivien Leigh are archived and curated by a range of public institutions in the South West of England, taking audiences behind the scenes of local archives and museums. The paper reflects on how researching within rural heritage centres and volunteer run archives encourages the introduction of new voices and new case studies within women’s film history, by encompassing the archival labour of a network of volunteers, amateurs and professionals within a broader heritage sector whose historical actions and choices produce alternative kinds of women’s film history. It reflects in turn on the challenge involved in finding new ways to present these histories in interactive, digital and physical forms for audiences beyond the academy and to make meaningful impact from this kind of research.

A film by Cine Mujer

Following recent endeavours that have unearthed women’s cinema and reclaimed its contribution to film history, this video essay revisits the filmography of the Colombian feminist film collective Cine Mujer (1978–1999). Narrated by three of its members—Eulalia Carrizosa, Patricia Restrepo, and Clara Riascos—through semi-structured interviews that intersect the personal, professional and political, this short film also reuses Cine Mujer’s archive. Its purpose is, one the one hand, to contribute to restoring its legacy and, on the other hand, to reframe and resignify its images within women’s ongoing battle for equality.

Pink-Slipped: What Happened to Women in the Silent Film Industries? by Jane M. Gaines, and: Bad Film Histories: Ethnography and the Early Archive by Katherine Groo, and: The Routledge Companion to New Cinema History ed. by Daniel Biltereyst, Richard Maltby and Philippe Meers

Reviewed by: Pink-Slipped: What Happened to Women in the Silent Film Industries? by Jane M. Gaines, and: Bad Film Histories: Ethnography and the Early Archive by Katherine Groo, and: The Routledge Companion to New Cinema History ed. by Daniel Biltereyst, Richard Maltby and Philippe Meers Chris Yogerst (bio) Pink-Slipped: What Happened to Women in the Silent Film Industries? by Jane M. Gaines. University of Illinois Press. 2018. 328 pages. $99.00 hardcover; $29.95 paper; also available in e-book. Bad Film Histories: Ethnography and the Early Archive by Katherine Groo. University of Minnesota Press. 2019. 376 pages. $112.00 hardcover; $28.00 paper; also available in e-book. The Routledge Companion to New Cinema History edited by Daniel Biltereyst, Richard Maltby, and Philippe Meers. Routledge. 2019. 434 pages.$250.00 hardcover; $52.95 paper; also available in e-book. [End Page 209] Any cinema scholars researching in the last twenty years have realized that film history and film theory have often been at odds. As a film historian, I have always found film theory fascinating and engaging but located my strengths in researching and writing history. Film history itself has been theorized by scholars like Philip Rosen, who argues that a film historian must work to fill the “gap between sources and synthesis” and find a way to place themselves “out of time” while also taking into consideration the philosophy of market-driven mass culture such as that posited by Adorno’s culture industry.1 Rosen’s influential musings on historiography bridge history and theory, giving film scholars much to consider. Current film history scholarship demonstrates the increased accessibility to primary sources since Rosen’s book came out in 2001. As noted by the editors of The Routledge Companion to New Cinema History, Daniel Biltereyst, Richard Maltby, and Philippe Meers, the “growing amount of fine-grained data will enable a profound renewal of the field as it reconstructs older, less securely evidence-based narratives.”2 Rosen therefore reminds us to continue considering both why and how we write cinema history. In the digital era, access has changed significantly for many archival collections. One can scour databases for period-specific coverage in a trade journal, quickly communicate with archivists around the globe about physical collections, and search through digitally indexed databases. Because of the increasing accessibility afforded by digital archives, film studies is seeing what we can, perhaps, call another historical turn. Previously accepted history can be revisited, questioned, expanded, and, when necessary, corrected thanks to regular and convenient connection to digital archives. One perspective on this new approach to film historiography can be found in Jane M. Gaines’s Pink-Slipped: What Happened to Women in the Silent Film Industries? Much of her text details how shifting ideologies impacted views of women’s place in film history. Gaines’s challenge to past narratives of feminist film theory is essential reading for historians and theorists working on women and film. In answering the question posed by her title, Gaines, in her own words, “examines the apparent incompatibilities these [theoretical and empirical] approaches yield: the theoretical position that there were ‘no women’ as opposed to the evidence of empirical ‘women’ or women theoretically ‘absent’ and then empirically ‘present’ in abundance.”3 Understanding that the digital era has made previously accepted narratives less reliable, Gaines acknowledges the digital archive and its positive impact on verifiable evidence that can more effectively inform film theory. Gaines finds a through line between history and theory, which both appreciates historical research but cautions historians about the pressures [End Page 210] of bending a narrative to fit popular theory of the day, a concern she shares with Rosen. Certainly, discussion of the abundance of women in early cinema would have been both a historical corrective and timely for second-wave feminist film theorists. However, as Gaines points out, such discussions were passed over even after the organization Women and Film, founded in 1973, explored the abundance of women writers, directors, and producers in early cinema. Such missed opportunities exemplify why continued empirical research is important. In this case, the outdated “no women” narrative that fit the politics of 1970s feminist film theory has been replaced...