Final Post

I enjoyed the theme of this class being "female directors" before this class I was oblivious as to who the director of a film was and merely watched a film based on it's appeal factor, I never considered who directed it. Therefore I didn't realize that there was such a small percentage of female directors in mainstream hollywood. Although I do believe that there should be more female directors and that they should be taken more seriously and not labeled as making "female films" but rather just identified as a film maker. Gender, race and any other factor should not be an identifier of the director. I really enjoyed the film the Bigamist and wouldn't have known or cared that the director was female but after analyzing the film, it was directed from a man's point of view and I beleive she broke the mold by making a statement that female directors don't always put their personal feelings or female touch into the films that they make.



Some of my favorite films this semester was Vertigo, The Bigamist, Dance Girl Dance, Eve's Bayou, and of course Clueless as compared to some of the films that I didn't really care for as much, such as Wanda, Jesus' Son, and Marianne and Julianne. I am not saying that those are not great films, I'm just saying that they were hard to follow at times and were of a slower pace that really didn't catch my attention. I have learned to have a better appreciation for films as communication. Every film communicates a different message.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_female_directors
http://dir.salon.com/story/ent/movies/feature/2002/08/27/women_directors/index.html

Clueless

I first saw Clueless when I was in high school and didn't really look that deep into the film, I merely viewed it for pleasure and found myself engrossed with the characters. I have seen the film too many times to count, most of which were the television version where alot of scenes were deleted for television viewing.

After viewing the film in class and taking a more critical stance, this film was not only a great film as a blockbuster hit but also critically acclaimed. It was easy to like the main character Cher as although she was popular and superficial, she was friendly. There were several scenes in the film that showed that although she was rich and popular, she still had her flaws. For example, the scene where she is smoking pot at a party showed that she too had flaws. Also she made a transformation in the film which took her from a naive teenager to a young lady. Whern her character made a decision that she needed more substance in her life was the point of the film that I really liked. Overall I really enjoyed this film.




http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clueless_(film)





http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0112697/

Sisterhood

Eve's Bayou and Marianne and Julianne are two films with a similar theme of sisterhood. Although both films were extremely different in regard to the storyline ans message, however the strong sisterhood theme was apparant in both.


In Marianne and Julianne, a new age German film the two sisters almost reverse roles from that of childhood. As a child Julianne was a daddy's girl and Marianne was more of a tomboy who embarrased her father by not wearing dresses. As the girls get older, they both work for women's rights however in two different ways. Marianne is a Journalist for a woman's magazine and Julianne was a radicalist who performed acts of terrorism and was ultimately sentenced to jail. Despite their differences Marianne ultimately looses her boyfriend of ten years to dedicate herself to visiting her sister in jail and then eventually on proving that she was in fact murdered and that she hadn't commited suicide. Marianne, although against everything Julianne stood for, put everything aside for the sole reason that they were sisters. I don't know how beliveable it is that Marianne decides to continue the cause after her sister's death. The film was a little hard to follow and at times shocking.

On the otherhand, there is Eve's Bayou a great film with numerous themes, one being that of sisterhood as well. In the film, the father Louis played by Ssamuel L Jackson was unfaithful to his wife and his daughter Eve witnessed the whole thing. When Eve is shook up about the night's events she confides in her sister who trys to tell her little sister she didn't see what she thought she saw. The older sister is protecting her father. Later in the film when the father is never home and is off with "patients" it is apparent that he is having an affair. One day the older sister sneeks out and gets a makeover and that night she waited up for her father and when he came home drunk she gave him a back rub and then kissed him, not as a girl, but as a women. When her father realizes he slaps her and embarassed she goes through a depression and decides to leave the house and as she is about to leave she confides to her little sister that their father tried to take advantage of her, making her father out to be a vilian. Eve states that she will kill him for hurting her and her sister makes her promise not to tell anyone. Once her sister leaves Eve seeks out a voodo witch to kill her father and pays $20. After her father's death Eve finds a letter that states her sister made the move onto the father and not as she had told her. Both girls feel guilty about their father's death, thinking that they are to blame. The older sister for lying and for Eve's voodo, when the reality was that the father's lover's husband shot him for sleeping with his wife. The long shot at the end of the film was fantastic as it showed that through everything, the bond between sisters is strong.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0119080/

http://www.shoestring.org/mmi_revs/evesbayou.html

Dance, Girl, Dance

Dance, Girl, Dance by Dorothy Arzner was a fabulous film starring Maureen O'Hara and Lucielle Ball. Maureen plays Judy, a women who's dream is to become a great dancer and Lucielle Ball, plays Bubbles, a dancer who is more concerned with money and men. The two dance together in a dance academy until Bubbles gets her big break and is hired as a hula dancer for $25.00 a week. Once at her new job, she is discovered and becomes a burlesque dancer and the star of the show, and changes her name to Tiger Lily.

Bubbles is rather mean and stuck up to her supposed friends,including Judy and is very competitive and full of herself. In the opening scene both Judy and Bubbles fall for the same guy and he ends up leaving with Bubbles. Judy is hurt and a bit jealous of Bubble's ability to capture the male gaze and attention. Bubbles is constantly showing off and going out with different guys. One day, Bubbles returns to the dance academy and offers Judy a job doing burlesque. Judy at first denies the offer but being out of work and in need of the money, she accepts and at her first night she goes on stage in a ballerina costume and the audience heckles her to get off stage and bring Tiger Lily back and that is when she realizes that she was hired to be Bubble's stooge. At first she decides to quit but when Bubbles comments that Judy couldn't be a stooge Judy agrees to stay on just to prove to Bubbles that she could do it.

Arzner shows the femine struggle within the two women and it is intersting that given the time period of when this film was made, that Arzner made it a point to shift the male gaze with the scene towards the end of the film where Judy is on stage and the men are heckling her and she stops and addresses them as though they should be ashamed of being there.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/03/movies/homevideo/03dvd.html?ex=1341115200&en=a606eb8d6c97054e&ei=5088&partner=rssn

http://www.dvdtimes.co.uk/content.php?contentid=65302

Vertigo vs Sex and the City

Alfred Hitchcock's Vertigo was a brilliant movie! The beginning scenes where Scottie is hanging off the side of the building helps the viewer understand his fear of heights and the vertigo feeling that he is overcome by. The film initially revolves around his fear and then develops into him spying on his friend's wife and becomes infatuated with her (Madeline).

She is thought to be possed by the spirit of her great great grandmother Carlotta and Maddy begins her ritual of going to different sites, such as the cemetary, the mission and the bridge as if she were Carlotta. However, unfortunately and to Scottie's surprise, the whole thing was false and it was actually a plot by his friend to murder his wife and make it seem as if it were a suicide. See Madeline was acting to be the wife and in fact was the mistress.

There was a weird obsession by Scottie when he found Judy (who was in fact the acting Madeline) He thought Judy looked alot like Madeline and therefore dressed her up and made her act as if she were Madeline to satisfy his sick fetish. Judy, desperate to be loved and being in love with Scottie, agreed to do those things to keep Scottie's attention and love. This deep need to be wanted and the male gaze that is presented is similar to that of Samantha on Sex and the City when she will do anything to feel wanted. Samantha sleeps with this one guy because Carrie told her that he only sleeps with models and that he video tapes them, she told Carrie, that he was a pervert, then goes on to sleep with him and in fact makes it known that she is ok with him taping her.





http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0052357/photogallery-ss-0
http://www.hbo.com/city/episode/season1/episode01.shtml