Y200 Politics and Film

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Y200 Politics and Film

• October 25, 2011

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The Politics of Difference in Films

• Race
• Gender
• Sexual Preference
• Religion

The issue here is whether Hollywood-made or other
types of films can directly confront these types
of issues -- and, if so, under what conditions.
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Race Relations in Films

• How are the different races portrayed on film?
• Roles played by actors of different races
• Types of scripts selected for films about race
  relations (or seemingly unrelated topics)
• Directors and producers of different races?
• How has Hollywood tried to make amends for its
  history of reinforcing racism?

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Examples of Films about African-Americans and
Race Relations
Contrast these films with earlier films
that contained basically racist ideas e.g. Step
n Fetchit or Amos and Andy characters

• Roots (1977)
• The Color Purple (1985)
• Driving Miss Daisy (1989)
• Do the Right Thing (1989)
• Boyz N the Hood (1991)
• New Jack City (1991)
• Malcolm X (1992)
• Amistad (1997)

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Films about Racism

• Gentlemens Agreement
• Chocolat
• World of Suzie Wong
• The Hurricane
• Men of Honor
• Jungle Fever
• Mississippi Masala
• American History X
• Crash

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Major African-American Actors/Actresses

• Paul Robeson
• Dorothy Dandridge
• Sidney Poitier
• Denzel Washington
• Lawrence Fishburn
• Halle Berry
• Morgan Freeman
• Jamie Foxx
• Forest Whitaker

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African-American Directors

• Spike Lee
• Melvin Van Peebles
• Mario Van Peebles
• Gordon Parks
• John Singleton
• Robert Townsend
• Reginald Hudlin
• Oz Scott

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Gender Issues

• How are women portrayed (as opposed to men)?
• Types of roles played by actresses
• Types of scripts selected which deal with
  gender-related issues
• How has Hollywood tried to atone for past
  misdeeds in this area?

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Key Ideas of Liberal Feminism in Film Studies

• Symbolic annihilation through the
  under-representation of women in films and other
  popular culture media.
• Use of content analysis techniques to demonstrate
  the above.
• In particular, under-representation of working
  and professional women in TV shows and movies.

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Female Directors

• Leni Riefenstahl
• Elaine May
• Lina Wertmuller
• Kathryn Bigelow
• Diane Kurys
• Jodie Foster
• Barbara Streisand
• Nora Ephron
• Kathryn Bigelow

So far, there are no female directors with a
record of multiple blockbuster films -- mainly
because most female directors have not been
allowed to direct more than a few films.
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Definition of Patriarchy

• a set of social relations between men, which
  have a material base, and which, though
  hierarchical, establish or create interdependence
  and solidarity among men that enable them to
  dominate women

Source H. Baehr as quoted in Strinati, p. 198
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Feminist Films?

• Woman of the Year (1942)
• Nine to Five (1980)
• The World According to Garp (1982)
• Fatal Attraction (1987)
• Blue Steel (1990)
• Thelma and Louise (1991)
• G.I. Jane (1997)

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Happy Hooker Movies

• Never on Sunday
• Klute
• Risky Business
• Private Lessons
• The Gift
• Pretty Woman

One of the last bastions of patriarchy the idea
that prostitutes like their jobs and are happy
individuals.
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Female Envy and Role Reversal Films

• Some Like It Hot
• Tootsie
• Mrs. Doubtfire
• Mr. Mom
• The Bird Cage (La Cage aux Folles)

What these films have in common is the
representation of males in traditional female
roles and (in some of them) males masquerading as
females.
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Selfish Mother Movies

• Kramer vs. Kramer
• Ordinary People
• The World According to Garp
• One True Thing

Here the main question is how films portray
motherhood in an age of increased visibility of
feminism.
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Families Functional or Dysfunctional?

• Prevalence of divorce in U.S. society
• Changing gender roles
• Dealing with mental illness and disability inside
  the family
• Teenage rebellion
• Child abuse

How do Hollywood films deal with these issues?