QUESTION: Gender & Film

[Katie Shickman]

QUESTION:  I am currently going back to school (changing professions) to earn my teaching certification in English Ed.  I am taking a grad class on using film and pop culture in the classroom- I am trying to think of lesson ideas that explore how women are portrayed in film and TV.  Any ideas of films (fiction or nonfiction) to explore this idea?  I am looking for examples that have many different representations of females.

 

Thanks :)

[Alex Peterson]

Great!  I was going to pipe up and mention "Killing Us Softly 4" (that's the latest one), but you & Debra already did! 

 

You might also be into "The Codes of Gender", which does a very good job at analyzing the performance of gender in advertising. http://www.mediaed.org/cgi-bin/commerce.cgi?preadd=action&key=238  It doesn't look at film representations, so it might not work for your class, but I thought I'd mention it anyway.

 

Two other ideas:

Dreamworlds 3: http://www.mediaed.org/cgi-bin/commerce.cgi?preadd=action&key=229

Generation M: http://www.mediaed.org/cgi-bin/commerce.cgi?preadd=action&key=234

 

Good luck!

 

Alex Peterson

Media Education Foundation

[camille napier bernstein]

My students and I compared two movies portrayals of relationships and boundaries:

Hitchcock's Rear Window (1954, Jimmy Stewart, Grace Kelly) and Disturbia (2007, Shia LaBeouf)

Would be happy to share more. 

[Alan Teasley]

Check out Pleasantville (1998):

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120789/

Contemporary brother and sister get "sucked into" the world of a 1950s TV series like "Father Knows Best" or "Make Room for Daddy." Gender roles are not the only focus, but they are definitely a major theme. Tobey Maguire and Reese Witherspoon are terrific as the leads. Joan Allen plays the mother in the TV reality, and she undergoes the biggest transformation of all.

[Sally Lehmann Hall]

hey katie--

I'm a new subscriber to Netflix, and my son and i just watched Winter's Bone the other evening. We were talking about the strength and resolve of the seventeen-year-old female protagonist, Ree, and comparing her to the young female protagonist in True Grit, 14-year-old Mattie Ross. Both grab the reins in the absence of their fathers, although there's evidence they were both already strong young women--stronger, healthier, and more resourceful than their mothers. Both of them have to solicit the help of others (mostly male, but not exclusively so in Winter's Bone), both are challenged by the flaws of those they are cautiously entrusting themselves to, both are able to articulate themselves and their misgivings (especially Maddie!), and both ultimately forge workable relationships with these men to accomplish their quests. Ultimately they are coming-of-age films about girls who are not ashamed to live outside of others' constructed images of what a woman should be, but who themselves have clear ideas about what a man should and shouldn't be.

[Sean]

Oooooo Winter's Bone!  Nice choice!  Love it!

[Sean]

I'm all about Geena Davis's institute.  It's amazing.

 

Okay...movies with women challenging female role:

1. Elizabeth I and II:  In II The Golden Age, she gives her famous speech prior to the Spanish Armada about how she has the stomach of a man but the body of a feeble woman.  Cate Blanchett is amazing.

 

2. Songcatcher.  The main character is completely unaware  of the Appalachian folk's culture.  She's shocked to find the magic in their purity.  They've kept the Scottish and Irish folk tunes in their pure forms.  She's gentle and scared, even.  But we also see her sister running a school, but she is a lesbian.  The mountain folk don't take too kindly to this, and in association the main character is ostracized.  The women, despite their roles are strong women.

 

3. Little Women.  Meg is a woman who invest sin the female role, wanting to get married and be a housewife.  Jo wants to be a free spirit and an artist.  Beth is a gentle soul and all about her family.  Amy seems to not know what she wants as a combination of all sisters.  Their mother, while her husband is away, raises them with a feminist point of view, declaring that corsets are restricting and women should be more involved in politics and social life.

 

4. Fried Green Tomatoes.  The women in this move differ with great degrees.  They're all strong characters, but in different ways.  Ruth is a woman who is more of a female that submits to her husband, saved by her best friend Idgie, a free spirit and wild "tom-boy".  In the present, Evelyn Couch (played by Kathy Bates) becomes a strong woman, able to stand up to her husband after learning about the Threadgoods from Ninny.

 

5. She's the Man allows Bynes' character to crossdress to play soccer, as the girls' team was disbanded because of sexist reasons.

 

6. Cold Mountain.  It portrays the women's lives during the Civil War when all the men are gone fighting.  They had to learn to do the men's jobs.  It's an inspiring and beautiful film (but a long and dragging, detailed novel).

 

7. Charlotte Gray is based on a true story of a Scottish woman who served as a spy for the British during WWII.  Her role as a woman is contrasted.

 

8. In Pan's Labyrinth, we get very different women.  The main character is a strong girl, questioning her step-father and mother's decisions.  Her mother is a typical housewife.  And their servant is secretly feeding the rebels information, as her brother is a rebel.  She's concerned with the welfare of her people and their freedom.  She's, quite frankly, badass.

 

Other than that, I'm not sure what.  Prior to the past 10 years, I don't know much about movies.  I'm not a fan of them because they're misogynist or male-centric.

[Katie Shickman]

WOW! Sean, thank you for this post!  Your ideas are incredibly helpful for my project and unit planning... thank you so much for taking the time to respond!