Oh. My. God. This worked!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Women...and the Media from Leila Graham on Vimeo.

Women have been represented in many fashions in film, yet despite all these different roles they play, it's usually the same thing over and over. They're always shown in the same way and told to act in certain ways that make watching them like watching a old cartoon, the same ol' background playing constantly in hopes that the audience doesn't notice it's the exact same thing. Just a few examples of this were brought up in my essay and powerpoint presentation but still it's enough to see that despite all the changes the film world has made, some things will never change.

Final Paper

Power Point

The Woman and The Dance

My video is 41 min. long, so I wasn't able to upload it to this site or YouTube. I've included a link where you can download the video and watch it on QuickTime.

I interviewed several dancers from around the world about their views on the representation of women in dance and the influences of machismo (sexism), patriarcy, ideas of the female image, etc. and asked them to talk about their experienceas a female dancer and the challenges that they have faced.

This project was such an eye-opener and as a dancer, it gave me insight on my role in this art form.

Link to download: The Woman and The Dance

In the eyes of west & In the eye of east

Final Project by Brendan Cheung

My project is actually little zine about this topic. I am trying to compare how people are viewing women from west and from east. It is an interesting topic, which western sides have a few types of stereotyping of asian women, however, on the east side they do not really have too much comment toward about the western women. It is not these eastern people ignore them , but just they have totally no interest on them.

I am going to post some videos, that I cannot shows in my project, in addition with references about my work.






http://www.youtube.com/verify_age?&next_url=/watch%3Fv%3Da54Pu9dTJfQ

Girls Against the World: The Rise and Fall of Riot Grrrl

As a musician, I am always looking for different styles and genres of music. While in class, I was briefly introduced to Riot Grrrl. The thought of these all girl bands playing punk rock definitely peaked my interest, so I decided to explore the movement further.
Riot Grrrl experienced its beginnings in the Pacific Northwest in places such as Olympia, WA and Eugene, OR. At first, the movement started out with different DIY zines, such as Bikini Kill or Girl Germs, which would write about and discuss important issues regarding women’s rights, feminism, sexual assault and sexual abuse. In addition to making these DIY zines, many of these groups of girls began to start bands. These bands include Bikini Kill, Bratmobile, and Heavens to Betsy. These bands began to enter the punk scene of Olympia, WA and were, at first, received with mixed feelings. Whenever they played for all girl audiences, the crowds would always be really into it, but when they would play for more male dominated audiences, the bands were not always as well received. In an interview with Bikini Kill drummer Toby Vail, she talked about how when they would play for male audiences, the shows would sometimes get really violent and that sometimes the guys would try and beat them up.
Regardless, the Riot Grrrl movement really began to create its own buzz as a scene in the Pacific Northwest. It gained a lot of notoriety in both a music sense and as advocators of women’s rights. However, with its growth in popularity, the Riot Grrrl movement started to gain attention in the mainstream media. The problems that began to arise from this attention were a lot of misrepresentation in the causes that these bands stood for and a devaluing of the social problems that they addressed. The mainstream belittled the movement by saying it was just an offshoot of the Grunge movement, even though Riot Grrrl began before Grunge. The mainstream would also focus on the fact that these were girls playing instruments and being outrageous, instead of bringing attention to the issues that these bands were trying to bring to the public eye.
For this piece, I decided to combine my skills as a video editor and animator and create what I like to refer to as a video collage. Basically what I did was take different interviews from some of the women who were involved in the movement, along with some live footage and music videos, and mashed them together to create a narrative documentary discussing the beginnings of Riot Grrrl and how it was belittled by the mainstream media. In addition, to add to the narration of the women, I animated what they discussed with the aid of different images I found on the Internet. My goal by making a project such as this was to try and repackage and revamp Riot Grrrl and bring attention back upon the movement in a way that helps it to achieve its original message; women’s rights and playing badass music.

Enough of this Mickey Mouse Bull Crap

Franklin Taveras

Media 384

Final Project

12/7/09

Silly Rabbit, cartoons are for kids. Even though many of us adults may find ourselves watching Little Mermaid on a rainy day, cartoons are mainly intended for young audiences. The thing that bothers me a lot is that many of these cartoons in modern days are rated G for children, which, in reality should be really rated PG-13 and in even some cases should be rated R. Many cartoons we see are shoved into children’s faces by their parents who see a cartoon and automatically think it’s innocent because it’s a cartoon. Many adults have a twisted view point on this and really need to re-educate themselves on this. Thank God I am here, to inform you about how huge corporations like Disney are trying to buy our children.

Read my article below:

http://www.scribd.com/doc/24131977/Enough-of-this-Mickey-Mouse-Bull-Crap

I interviewed two people within media about how women in the film industry both in front of and behind the camera have changed over time. They talk about the changes over time, hows they're suppose to look, and give examples of women who have exceeded the expectations.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yvCeVKyRYaY

Redefining Beauty

by Elizabeth A Fernandez

What is Beauty?

What do you consider beautiful?
Has the media distorted your view?
What kind of answers are available today and what do we know about how beauty can be perceived?

These are questions I feel are best answered with in depth analysis of yourself, and the images and ideas which are presented before you.

Make your own decisions.

What is Beauty?

For more fun look at:

umpikanoo.com
or
Captain Moosestash and the Incredible Flying Machine

Thanks everyone

"Gender is bewteen you ears, NOT your legs."

“Gender is Between Your Ears, Not Your Legs”
A Look at the Social and Financial aspects of Transgender
Healthcare in America and How the Trans Community is Portrayed on Screen

Back in 2003, two of my closest buddies revealed themselves to be gay to our group of friends. They are both male, aged 15 at the time. The LGB community in Staten Island is a large community but a close knit one; if you know one, then by association, you know them all. I met my first openly Transgender person in 2005, at my high school graduation party. My friend Mark’s boyfriend at the time brought his sister Angelina**. A lovely girl indeed, Angelina was 25 at the time and had the prettiest brown eyes I have ever made contact with and long wavy hair that flowed past her shoulders. Angelina possessed a delicate demeanor that seemed clashing to her deep vocal tone, and her peep-toe black pumps added four inches to her already six foot frame. What I noticed most about her was her indifference to her difference. She was truly a beautiful enigma, and we became fast friends.

It was obvious to see what Angelina was upon first meeting her; but it was the nonchalance to her presence which was most perplexing. Does she choose to ignore the faint stubble across her cheeks? I am sure she either forgot or didn’t have the time to correct that that particular morning. Questions such as these plagued me upon meeting her; you certainly did not see someone like Angelina often in Staten Island, especially one with as much confidence and charisma as she had. Angelina, Mark and his boyfriend Alejandro would introduce to some of the most interesting characters I would ever come across. I would come to learn a lot from this community; they were older by a couple of years and therefore more experienced in love, life and hardship, all with diverse perspectives. I was granted a glimpse into another world where I would say having met such wonderful people in the queer population of S.I. was definitely the pre cursor to my increased interest in the greater LGBT community, and the basis for this paper.

Having met people like my friend Angelina who was Transgender, I wondered, how would someone else like her go about completing the journey into the other sex? I could imagine the cosmetic bills alone as being astronomical (Angelina herself paid a whopping $3,500 for a pair of breasts, but they are the best I’ve ever seen!). I wondered besides the aesthetic expenses, what about the rest of their upkeep; what kind of internal health issues would be addressed differently between a naturally born male/female and a transgender? Is there a difference? I imagine for people like Angelina, Hispanic, living transsexual, that her concerns not easily seen on the surface; I assume her problems would be dissimilar to problems of mine, a heterosexual female; therefore her ailments are unique to diagnose and require sensitivity to treat. How does the American Healthcare system aids in such matters when the institutionalized “binary system” works to exclude the Transgender community? I wonder, in regards to healthcare, what it would be like to live and be treated as a Transgender…

The background on the term Transgender is one in perpetual flux; it is an “umbrella term” that’s constantly expanding to fit a more diverse group of people. A transgender individual is a person with a gender identity which is inconsistent with his or her biological anatomy. Researcher Susan Stryker writes on Transgender, that it “refers to all identities and practices that cut across, move between, or otherwise queer socially constructed sex gender boundaries.” (Transgender Rights pg.4) This quotes means that this term includes incredible variation; the Transgender category embraces a number of sub-groups, including transsexual, transvestite, cross-dressing and androgynous. Originally, the term transgender was coined in the 1970s by Virginia Prince; Cisgender (not coined by Prince) is its antonym, meaning a complete connection and satisfaction with one’s own gender. Prince was the first to use the term transgender, which she used to describe a person who lives full time in a gender other than the one assigned at birth but without body or anatomy modification. Prince was infamous for her disbelief that SRS (sex reassignment surgery) was a suitable approach for Gender Identity disorder (GID), a disorder commonly associated with transgender discussion (Transgender Rights pg. 4).

Read more at...
Full Paper
http://www.scribd.com/doc/24106680/Trans-Paper-Finished-With-Images

PowerPoint
http://www.scribd.com/full/24106689?access_key=key-v3qrmdxi6dwldg9pa95

Orlan

"My work is a fight against nature and the idea of God. The inexorability in life, DNA-based representation. And that's why I went into cosmetic surgery; not looking to enhance or rejuvenate, but to create a total change of image and identity. I claim I gave my body to art."
Orlan from "Sunthetic Pleasures" (film by Lara Lee, 1995)


c

From Male Objectification to Female Representation

For my final project I have decided to write an essay that discusses how male artist of the early  twentieth century objectified the nude and how later on in the century female artist chose to comment on this depiction with the use of their own body. The male artist that I discuss are Henri Matisse, Pablo Picasso, and Ernst Ludwig Kirchner. What these three male artist have in common is that they were thought to have a brand new avant-garde approach to art making yet they still continued to objectify the nude. The female artists that reacted to this depiction and that I have decided to discuss are Carolee Shneemann and Hannah Wilke which through their performances bring up the social issue of the female role in society and their place in the art world. I also briefly bring up how women artists are taking a stand against the institution and through groups like the Guerrilla Girls they are informing the general public about the pervasive presence of the female form but not the female artist in the museum world. And how through works of different artists changes are slowly starting to happen and more people are aware of the unfair facts. 

http://www.scribd.com/doc/24109324/Women-and-the-Media-Final-Project

I have also attached a powerpoint of my essay which is a brief summary of my topic.

http://www.scribd.com/doc/24110377/WM-Final-Presentation

Fashion Perspectives

In my journey to discover how various young women feel about the negative images of women that are put out by the Media, and how if in any way they are effected, I was sent in a new direction. After I finished my interviews and sat down to edit them, my original ideas and intent were out the window. I stumbled across another very interesting topic of which we can all relate to in one way or the other, Fashion.

I created a short video documentary in which I interviewed two young women about Fashion and the Media's effect on it. My first interview was of a Fashionista and the second was an aspiring Designer. I asked them various questions to get a glance of how they thought the Media effects fashion in either a negative or positive way. I made a connection between these two young women as I interviewed them, which was their blind passion for fashion.


As I started the interviews I began to ask questions that sparked a light bulb in my mind. How accountable are we for the negative images out in the Media? Are we victims or participators? Many young women are well aware of the standards set by society for us, but don't realize how they help these images to continue to exist. My short video documentary isn't meant to point fingers or to shed a negative light on young women, but to help them to realize how innocent hobbies or interests may help negative images to stay alive.

Vlogging for Change: How YouTube Has Become the Safe Space for a Generation of Queer Youth

So. Here it is. My final project, which, as many of you who were in class for my presentation last week know, is on the rise of queer youth vloggers on YouTube. This paper is basically a love letter to these rad kids who put everything out there and are single-handedly re-defining what voices are allowed to share their stories in the public sphere. The paper also serves as a plea to get more LGBT youth web-savvy and pumped to get on YouTube and give the world a piece of their mind.

I hope that you'll all take a couple minutes to watch this selection of videos discussed in my article:


(This one wasn't specifically mentioned in the article, but is a great example of the 5awesomegays style of vlogging...)

















Here is my article in PDF form. Click on each page number to get a little preview. The whole document be easily downloaded by clicking the "Download" button at the top of the widget.

VloggingForChange

I hope you all enjoy it, but most of all, I hope you all find it helpful.

Finally, please don't forget to support young vloggers speaking out about important issues on YouTube! Leave them a comment, favorite their video, or subscribe to their channel. These people definitely deserve to be appreciated.

Hey Everyone.

Some of you expressed interest in coming to one of my shows and it seems that you enjoyed my project so I've posted the flyer for my show on December 16th at Carolines Comedy Club (1626 Broadway). There's a $15 cover and a 2 drink minimum. Doris said she'd give extra credit if you come (this statement is false).

I hope to see you there! Thanks...

The Breast or The Bottle?

Mother's milk - a vital life source for all children. A mother's milk contains the highest nutritional value for a child, supplying vitamins, antibodies that boost their immune system, neorlogical growth, in addition to a beautiful bond between mother and child. Breastfeeding fosters and important connection and relationship between mother and child, one that cannot be replicated through the practice of bottle feeding. So why then, do people care so much if women breastfeed? In recent decades, breastfeeding has been turning heads and making people very uncomfortable. It is a natural and beautiful thing, and the best thing for a child, so what is all the fuss?

In my research paper, I discuss the problems surrounding public breastfeeding, it's place in the media, and the laws that have been created in recent times in order to protect and accomodate nursing mothers. We will take a journey from the state and federal legislatures, to a nurse-in outside of the ABC studios. We will take (or be delayed on a trip) from Burlington, Vermont to New York City, only to then return to the airport to breastfeed our child in yet another nurse-in. We will venture from the internet pages of Myspace to Facebook, all along the way encountering injustices and sour attitudes placed upon breastfeeding mothers.

One thing that will definitely get you laughing is the ridiculous nature of Barbara Walters, and the backlash from another ABC colleague, Jimmy Kimmel. This clip can be found here:

Jimmy Kimmel vs Barbara Walters

We will also get a great laugh out of the Facebook experiment Phil Hansen did when they banned photos showing nipples:

Hansen vs. Facebook

and the follow-up

Resolution

I hope you all will enjoy my paper, presentation, and support lactivism! :-)

The Breast or the Bottle: The Essay

Changing the Beauty Ideal

For my final project I focused on the obsession women have with being thin. We have unrealistic ideal of beauty that as a society we ascribe to and that is seriously harmful to the emotional, physical and mental health of women. Is it possible to transform this ideal of beauty? And what exactly will it take to do so? I looked at some successful women who have embraced their size and abandoned the idea that we have to be stick thin to be beautiful. Beautiful women come in all sizes we just need to work on helping them believe that they are beautiful.

http://www.scribd.com/doc/24286077

She Just Needs a Good Shaking: Examining our Attitudes toward Sexual Assault and Domestic Violence in the Black Community

In this essay I am examining the attitudes surrounding sexual assault and domestic violence perpetrated against Black women. When the Rihanna and Chris Brown story first broke I was very taken aback by how people responded. I was particularly bothered by the response of young people, especially the teenage girls who rushed to the defense of Chris Brown and blamed Rihanna for her assault. Some of these reactions can be heard here:

http://www.youthradio.org/news/youth-react-chris-browns-alleged-assault-rihanna

These reactions and attitudes were reminiscent of much (not all) of the feedback I received when I shared my personal experience of sexual assault with some people I had trusted at the time. The connection was very striking so I use some of my personal experience to introduce the topic and refer back to it periodically throughout the essay. I also provide some historical background because I believe it lays the foundation for the current mainstream attitudes towards Black women who have been victimized. I demonstrate how there is often a lack of mainstream media coverage, as in the recent case of the Imperial Avenue murders in Cleveland, or when the media does cover this issue, the responses and conversations about it are often negative towards the survivor. It is my belief that the negativity and victim blaming contribute to the silencing of survivors, leading to under-reporting of incidents. To conclude, I offer a few possible starting points for solutions and note that projects such as No! The Rape Documentary, directed by Aishah Shahidah Simmons, will be vital for helping to change how we talk and think about sexual assault and domestic violence in the Black community.

Here is a trailer of No! The Rape Documentary:



My essay:

WGS384finalproject

Maternal Mortality

I did my final project on the issue of maternal mortality, which is one of the most important but most overlooked issues regarding women's health. There are huge disparities between maternal mortality rates in developed countries and the rates in underdeveloped countries.

For example, the UN has statistics that are based on maternal deaths per 100,000 live births. In 2005, Sub-Saharan Africa had 900 maternal deaths, and Southern Asia had 490. These are the regions with the two highest maternal mortality rates. In stark contrast, in developed regions, the number of deaths in 2005 was 9. Even more startling is that 90% of these deaths could be prevented if women in underdeveloped countries had access to simple resources and trained health professionals.

In the past few years, the media has been used to bring attention to women's health issues. In 2005, the World Health Organization held a workshop in Bangkok entitled “Increasing Media Awareness on Maternal and Child Health Issues” which informed media professionals about what they can do to help bring awareness to issues about maternal health.

Former supermodel Christy Turlington is also playing an important role in bringing maternal mortality to the forefront of the media. She is currently making a documentary called, "No Woman, No Cry" in which she travels to Guatemala, Bangladesh, and Tanzania, documenting the lives of pregnant women and mothers there, as well as documenting the lives of mothers giving birth in the United States. In the clip below, she talks a little bit about the film and her interest in the issue.

Essay

Bibliography

Media Shaping Gender Roles

For my final project, I am writing an article discussing the results of an interview I conducted on my 10 year old and 13 year old siblings pretaining to gender roles. I used visual medias such as magazines and YouTube videos to exhibit how these images unconciously influenced thier ideologies. Based on the responses I recieved from my questions, I concluded that the media manipulates the way we preceive ourselves and what we believe what our roles are from a young age.

Women and Media Final Project

View more documents from Hunter College.

Below are the three YouTube videos I showed to my siblings during the interviews:

w o m e n...a n d...d a n c e

For my project, I am doing a survey on the representation of women in dance.

I will be interviewing several dancers from both Latin America and Eurpoe on their experience as a woman in the dance world and the challenges they have faced as a result of machismo (sexism), the female image, etc.

I will also be incorporating outside research that I have done on this topic.

I am looking forward to sharing my discoveries with you, and I hope you enjoy!

Media Final Project

For my final project I made a short video documentary centered around the question: Do you think women can play professional "male" sports?

The documentary is based only on opinion. I did have two competitions against various boys and girls to help support some opinions, and at the end there are three facts of females who have got pretty far playing in an all males sport, but I tried to keep it all opinion based, because I had to keep it short and I did not want to deter from the main question on how people view females playing in a "males" sports world.

Women...and the Media- Final Project

A documentary style video; I interviewed six girls which was then narrowed down to four interviews for the video, then I acted the interviews out and filmed them. I talked with them about different issues women face today

-What is a women's role?

-What is YOUR role

-What are your thoughts about the media?

Through that I was able to see the differences between the four women, but more importantly the similarities.

Think. a piece on beauty.

This is a rough cut of entitled "Think. a piece on beauty." Basic thought: its time for Christian artists to redefine "beauty." i set out to find some of the best Christian artists i knew to help me define beauty and introduce how they use their craft to do just that. bear with me. theres no transitions, barely any b-roll and no music. hence: "rough cut." :)


Have mercy everyone! lol. My piece is not done, but I'm confident it will be by next week :)

Gender Inequality in Iran

Hi everyone, I am posting on the blog my PowerPoint presentation on Gender Inequality in Iran. My research paper provides reasons provided by scholars on the remaining social problem of Gender inequality in Iran. The following PowerPoint presents a brief summary of my paper which included an outline of the potential reasons for gender inequality.

Struggle For Gender Equality In Iran

View more documents from ginar427.

Women Studies Final Paper

View more documents from ginar427.

Media and Anorexia

I created a 4 1/2 minute informational video about how media is one of the leading causes for anorexia amongst young women. The video includes interviews by women who express their opinion about media's effect on women.

Please click the link below to view.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8OA5uvmTt0A

Yvonne Ridley: The Muslim Voice

I previously made a presentation on Yvonne Ridley, here is some useful websites that you can read about some articles she has written:

http://www.yvonneridley.org/

In addition to her website, here is a interview of her speaking about how she accepted Islam and how she is a Muslim Feminist who fights for human rights through the media:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xFZrSPUoH3I

Women Rock Guitarists

When we think of female rock guitarists, perhaps only a few names or images come to mind from the near past like Joan Jett or Lita Ford.

However, there are MANY more female guitarists who have contributed to rock and roll in the past, and the present, such as Bonnie Guitar and Lady Bo.

Through texts, articles, blogs, and interviews, I will explore the women guitarists who have shaped rock and roll, examine some of the reasons why they have not been highlighted by the media, and discuss options and alternatives for female rockers of the future.

Please read my paper below, and I hope that this changes your mind about women who rock!

Rock Doc

K Bigs A+

One female director that is definitely worth taking note of is Kathryn Bigelow. What so interesting about her is that she exclusively directs action films, something that most people wouldn’t expect because most people think of female directors focusing all their attention on the emotional aspects of storytelling. But what makes Ms Bigelow so unique is that she is both a master of suspense and creating fullness in her characters. Take for example her movie Point Break. In terms of suspense, she literally has a seen where Keanu Reeves’ character jumps out of a plane without a parachute in order to chase down Patrick Swayze’s character. And in terms of create incredibly full characters; we can take Reeves’ character development as an example. I feel like in most movies, when the cop gets their man, there is a celebration. Not so in Point Break. By throwing his badge into the Pacific after he finally tracks down Swayze and walking away, we really see the turmoil faced when you have to take down someone you’ve developed a relationship with.
Another one of the themes she is really good at exploring is masculinity. Take for instance her latest movie The Hurt Locker. The whole movie is an exploration of bravery and what it mean to “be a man”, to risk your life everyday in extremely volatile situations in order to save lives. And its funny, according to Roger Ebert, Kathryn Bigelow knows a lot more about what it means to be a man than say someone like Michael Bay.
As far as how well she is received, I personally feel mixed about it. While critics love her, I feel like audiences kind of over look her not because she makes poor movies, but just for the weird fact that mainstream movies lately have just been garbage. Take again the Hurt Locker, basically only played in smaller Indie theaters and had only a limited release, and again according to Roget Ebert, if this movie was made ten years ago, it would have been a blockbuster hit. I guess people just want the promise of transforming robots hanging out with crappy actors from the Disney channel. Anyway, Kathryn Bigelow, A+.

Charlotte Sally Potter

British born Sally Potter is director, dancer, singer and writer. Sally Potter is known for making innovative, personal films that center around the lives of unusual women. Born in 1949, Potter began making films as a teenager and maintained dueling duties as both a director and profession dancer/choreographer. Potter went on to become an award winning performance artist and theatre director, with shows including Mounting, Death and the Maiden and Berlin. In addition, she was a member of several music bands (including the Feminist Improvising Group and The Film Music Orchestra) working as a lyricist and singer, some of her other talents.

Potter's theatrical debut was1979’s Thriller; the film short helped kick her directorial career in high gear as she re worked Puccini's La Boheme. The film was a cult hit on the international festival circuit, and it was followed four years later by Potter's feature directorial debut, Gold Diggers; as a woman who journeys to the Yukon to explore her heritage and was acclaimed as a pro feminist piece. The director followed up with a short film and the television documentary series Tears, Laughter, Fears and Rage, as well as a 1988 film on women in the Soviet cinema entitled I Am an Ox, I Am a Horse, I Am a Man, I Am a Woman; all critical successes for Potter.



Potter had her highest-profile film to date with 1992's Orlando. Adapted from Virginia Woolf's novel about a British nobleman who lives for four centuries and changes sex along the way, it starred Tilda Swinton as its eponymous adventurer. Potter's account of Woolf's novel remains faithful to the spirit of the original work while encompassing modern touches, its broken up narrative effectively brings the viewer along the vast journey (including a sex change) of Orlando's 400-year livelihood. The film earned great international praise, gaining two Oscar nominations, won over 25 international honors including the Felix awarded by the European Film Academy for the best Young European Film of 1993, and first prizes at St Petersburg, Thessaloniki.

In 2000, she again returned to the theme of a woman's personal journey with The Man Who Cried, a love story set to an operatic theme; centering on a Russian Jewish woman (Christina Ricci) who flees WWII Germany for Paris, where she becomes involved in a romantic rectangle with Cate Blanchett, John Turturro, and Johnny Depp.
Sally Potter has blazed quite a trail since emerging from Britain in the last three decades. Her work represents a uniquely British artistic view that is both disarming and enchanting. Potter’s ambitious film-making displays an intention intertwining of image, performance and music and in its avante garde blending of genders.

Gillian Armstrong

Just three years after graduating the Australian Film Television and Radio School, Jillian Armstrong directed two short films and since that beginning, she directed approximately 25 films, documentaries and shorts of which she is most noted for strong " character studies, with human interaction and personal journey at the heart of the narrative. With that as her springboard, she has ventured to explore several genres, including musical, gangster and most commonly, period drama. Though her stories do mostly revolve around female characters and feature women in lead roles” (Everist 314).

Armstrong specializes in period dramas like her famous 1994 film version of Louisa May Alcott’s “Little Women.” In a NY Times article review, Janet Maslin writes “Ms. Armstrong instantly demonstrates that she has caught the essence of this book's sweetness and cast her film uncannily well, finding sparkling young actresses who are exactly right for their famous roles. The effect is magical. And for all its unimaginable innocence, the story has a touching naturalness this time.” (Maslin 1) The captivating nature of this film cannot go unnoticed.



In her film, she chooses extremely strong female leading roles; casting Winona Ryder as Jo, Susan Sarandon as Marmee and Trini Alvarado as Meg and Claire Danes and Kirsten Dunst as the March sisters. In the film she incorporates a lot of themes from her previous work such as feminist theory, ‘specific shots of children playing the piano, oranges, the desire for a better life and unrequited love’ (Carter 2)

As an auteur, Armstrong intricately weaves a delicate lace of stories, personalities and life into her film. She has a unique way of telling a story through drama, art, humor and strong female characters.



References:
NY Times Film Review: The Gold Standard For Girlhood Across America by Janet Maslin: http://movies.nytimes.com/movie/review?_r=1&res=950DE0D81038F932A15751C1A962958260
Reviews on various works: http://archive.sensesofcinema.com/contents/directors/02/armstrong.html#1
Gillian Armstrong by Helen Carter: http://archive.sensesofcinema.com/contents/directors/02/armstrong.html#1

Nancy Meyers

Nancy Meyers is a female writer, director, and producer who has been making movies for over two decades. She is most famous for the comedies Something’s Gotta Give (2003), The Holiday (2006) and What Women Want (2000) which was the most successful film ever directed by a woman.

Ms. Meyers first came onto the film scene in 1980 with the film Private Benjamin. Starring Goldie Hawn this film tells the story of a high-society woman (Hawn) who enlists in the Army after her husband dies on their wedding night. The movie earned Ms. Meyers an Oscar nomination for Best Original Screenplay and earned Ms. Hawn an Oscar nomination for Best Actress. Ms. Meyers would go on to co-write and produce such movie hits as Irreconcilable Differences (1984), Baby Boom (1987), and Father of the Bride Parts I and II (1991) and (1995) respectively.

Ms. Meyers made her directorial debut in 1998 with a remake of the classic comedy The Parent Trap. Starring Dennis Quaid and the late Natasha Richardson this movie was a huge hit and introduced the world to a young actress named Lindsay Lohan. Since 1998 Ms. Meyers has written and directed What Women Want starring Mel Gibson and Helen Hunt, Something’s Gotta Give starring Diane Keaton, Jack Nicholson and Keanu Reeves, and The Holiday starring Cameron Diaz, Kate Winslet, Jude Law and Jack Black.

What I most admire and enjoy about Ms. Meyers’s work is her ability to make “chick flicks” that lie outside the classic chick flick mold. In What Women Want Mel Gibson obtains the power to read women’s minds. Here the main character is a man, even though the entire concept of the movie is centered around women. Helen Hunt plays an advertising executive that we see struggle with the stereotypes of women in the corporate world. A witty and enjoyable film it showed Ms. Meyer’s ability to not only make a good movie but make a successful movie, as it was the highest grossing film ever directed by a woman.

In Something’s Gotta Give Ms. Meyers adds her charm again to an unconventional love story between Diane Keaton and Jack Nicholson. I call it unconventional because even though it perhaps falls within the category of a chick flick, it is about two people of an older generation with a very modern twist. The film shows us that love is not only for young people, and that wittiness and charm are very desirable qualities in women of any age. Something’s Gotta Give earned Diane Keaton a Golden Globe Award and Jack Nicholson a Golden Globe nomination.

In 2006, Ms. Meyers was back again with The Holiday, another love story involving four main characters, two women and two men. While all the actors give wonderful performances, I remember being struck by the casting of Jack Black in the movie. He’s always been the goofy, funny guy and I couldn’t imagine him playing anything but that. I was pleasantly surprised by his tender performance opposite Kate Winslet. I later learned that Ms. Meyers wrote the screenplay for those four actors, meaning she had Mr. Black in her mind the entire time and therefore was confident he could play a role that was outside his normal zone. If it hasn’t already become apparent, I’m a huge fan of Ms. Meyers work and The Holiday continues to be one of my favorite movies.

All of Ms. Meyers’s movies have strong female characters, even What Women Want which has a male main character. The idea of gynocriticism can be applied to this movie as it opens up Mel Gibson’s character to “the interests and desires of women” (95). Although it’s a lighthearted and unrealistic comedy, there is still an underlying notion that women are silenced by men and that women are inferior to men. We see Helen Hunt’s character struggle with being a high-powered and driven woman in the advertising firm that she and Mel Gibson’s character work at. It is safe to say that all of Ms. Meyers characters are successful women and not bimbos who are simply looking to fall in love with Mr. Right. Diane Keaton’s character in Something’s Gotta Give is a successful playwright, and Cameron Diaz’s character in The Holiday is a successful movie trailer producer. The style of Ms. Meyers’s films is unmistakable, she imbues her stories with strong characters, witty banter and happy endings without being cliché and tacky. This style speaks to Ms. Meyers’s ability as an auteur to put a personal stamp on her films that makes them memorable and enjoyable to watch.

Julie Dash

Julie Dash, a producer, writer and director from New York City, is probably best known for her film Daughters of the Dust, released January 1992, which was the first full-length film both directed and written by an African-American woman. Daughters of the Dust is the story of the Peazant family, a family who resides on one of several islands off the coast of South Carolina and Georgia. It is through this film that Dash, as the auteur, utilizes gynocriticism to ensure, "voices of the silenced are becoming heard," (95).

Dash explains, in an interview featured on YouTube, that Daughters of the Dust looks particularly at the African-American woman at the turn of the century to compare to where she is presently (at the time of the interview). She also explains that the film takes place on the sea islands which are sacred grounds; they can be likened to a Black Ellis Island because it was the place where the slave ships first arrived before slaves were brought to the mainland. The people who inhabit these sea islands, or golden islands, are known as the Gullah or Geechee people. They are a community of African-Americans, around 250,000, and are descendents of slaves. In telling the story of the Gullah people, Dash is not only exposing a history that often remains untold, she also refutes the belief that African-Americans completely assimilated to the mainstream American culture. Daughters of the Dust uncovers a rich history of Gullah traditions, cuisines, and religion which reflect West African culture. The film also reflects her family history and the Gullah traditions that she witnessed and took part in as a child.

Julie Dash also noted in the interview that she began her research for the film in 1975. In addition to making the film, Dash also had to convince people that there was indeed an audience for a movie that was about a family and concentrated on women. Thankfully, Dash was convincing; Daughters of the Dust won "Best Cinematography" at the 1992 Sundance Film Festival and the film was placed in the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress.

http://www.youtube.com/user/juliedash

Woody Allen, an American Auteur

His career spans five decades and has earned him fourteen Academy Award nominations. New York native Woody Allen has won eight BAFTA (British Academy of Film) awards and the prestigious Palme des Palmes, the Cannes Film Festival's lifetime achievement award. Allen can be credited with 30 + films; as well as author to numerous plays and short stories.

From my research, Woody Allen has continually downplayed the degree of similarity between himself and his cinematic counterpart, but Allen is definitely an Auteur, serving as director, screenwriter and star for the majority of his films. Allen exercises an infamously tight control over all facets of his work – casting, writing, shooting and editing. For each film he has done the directing of the movie, chosen the cast, the locations and the drama that takes place and how the drama is dealt with, written or co-written the screenplay; had final say on all the technical aspects of the filming process; done the final editing and participated in the marketing and distribution process. In fact I find very few people have had so much control over a cinematic project as Allen has.

I believe the major themes of Allen's movies is that each of us is responsible for the consequences of the choices we make as a person. “Annie Hall" was his first film to contain believable, if exceptionally neurotic, people. Allen’s 1977 breakthrough film was a major commercial hit as well as a critical success. “Annie Hall” introduced, for the first time in a serious manner, many of the integral themes that would concern Allen throughout the remainder of his career. A lot of Allen’s film is based on his idea of philosophy of life. You see in Allen films as well as his life that he deals with such issues as his idea of fate, death, love, and his argument battle with god.

Other themes include: his obsession with existential issues of freedom, responsibility, anguish, guilt and alienation; a constant awareness of our own mortality; issues with obtaining and keeping romantic love, sexual desire and changing cultural gender roles. He also exhibits a preoccupation with understanding human thinking and behaving.

A snippet from “Annie Hall” details greatly one of Allen real life fascinations; human mortality.
Doc: Why are you depressed, Alvy?
Mother: Tell doctor [?] It's something he read.
Doc: Something you read, heh?
Alvy: The universe is expanding.
Doc: The universe is expanding?
Alvy: Well, the universe is everything, and if it's expanding, someday it will break apart and that would be the end of everything!
Mother (shouting): What is that your business? (To doctor) He stopped doing his homework.
Alvy: What's the point?
Mother: What has the universe got to do with it? You're here in Brooklyn! Brooklyn is not expanding!
– Annie Hall

This quote sums up Allen's philosophy – he undercuts his own mortal angst with ridiculous humor that provides comic relief and is in its own way an answer to these unanswerable questions he has imposed on the viewer, as well as himself. Allen most often employs psychoanalytic theory in his (often dialogue heavy) scripts. The thesis of The Denial of Death (a psychoanalytic text which Alvy buys Annie and reflects on after they separate in Annie Hall) cites as two strategies of evading mortality – sexuality, which Allen has embraced wholeheartedly in both his work and life, and the belief in and service to God, which he has not. Other critics have noted the parallels with philosophers such as Socrates and Jean-Paul Sartre, the latter with regard to the impossibility of authentic romantic commitment.

While many of the elements Annie Hall are present in Allen’s earlier work, it is here where it is more visually satisfying. The film may be seen as a series of therapy sessions with Alvy Singer; the film main character played by Allen himself. It is viewed as Alvy as the patient, and the audience as the therapist. Like many psychotherapy patients, Alvy is always trying to validate his actions. Our job as viewers is to act as analysts and perceive his troubles as the characters on the screen.



"Annie Hall," is actually based loosely on Allen's relationship with the film's star, Diane Keaton; therefore leading many in the media as well as theater goers to believe the film to be a pseudo-autobiography. But Allen takes a literal-minded stance about the connection between his real life and his work; the films are not autobiographical, he says, because the events they depict didn't happen. The problem of Woody Allen's being identified with his roles began during his days as a stand-up comic in the 1960's. I found out that Allen had a history in comedy as a stand up, and found it was easier and more productive for him to go out on stage and just “talk’ to the audience; As if to have one-big conversation. It was not planned to mirror his stage act so closely to his real life. Woody Allen draws on his own fixations because they are so easy for him to write about, being that they truly do perplex him in real life; making him the quintessential American Auteur.

Amy Heckerling Does It Again - Hope Not Sporadically!

"So okay, I don't want to be a traitor to my generation and all but I don't get how guys dress today. I mean, come on, it looks like they just fell out of bed and put on some baggy pants and take their greasy hair - ew - and cover it up with a backwards cap and like, we're expected to swoon? I don't think so." This is one of many memorable quotes theatrically provided to us by Alicia Silverstone, through the character of Cher Horowitz in the movie Clueless. Who really said this though? None other than the talented Amy Heckerling. Born a Bronx girl, Heckerling attended the High School of Art and Design in Manhattan. Upon graduation, she embarked on her film journey, studying at New York University. Heckerling wrote and directed many smash hit movies, such as Fast Times and Ridgemont High, Look Who's Talking, Look Who's Talking Too, National Lampoon's European Vacation, Clueless, Loser, and more. Clueless is a an adapted modern day Emma, with Amy Heckerling doing a fantastic job adapting Jane Austen. Her vision and influence on this film is sheer reflection on her role as auteur.

Clueless is a story of a "Beverly Hills teen, Cher, whose penchant for helping others with their relationships and self-esteem is a cover for her own loneliness" (amazon.com). With the obvious echoes of Jane Austen's Emma, Heckerling has said herself that she borrowed the exact structure from Austen's 1816 novel. She had read Emma in college, and it completely matched the path that she wanted her own character to take. Heckerling's role of auteur really began to take place with the research that she conducted while scripting the film. She would spend time sitting in on various classes, sports events, and activities at Beverly Hills High School. She would eavesdrop on gaggles of girls, and find out where the next cool skateboarding competition would be held. She would watch MTV constantly, read books other teenagers were reading, and really dug in to the frame of mind of a teenager in the 90s. All of this research really gives a personal flare to her screenwriting and directing, because it is her perception of these actual events that is now being translated to film through her eyes. Because it is her perception and interpretation, it is really her artistic vision coming through as the creator of this fictional world (jasa.net).



In an interview with Heckerling conducted by the American Film Institute, the moderator asked Heckerling, "I wonder what you think... What is directing about?" Flabbergasted by this question, Heckerling replied honestly, "Directing what, though. Well, you know, in this film the problems, the decisions that I made are very different than what comes up in other films. I mean, to me it was like keeping the kids focused and having color schemes for the scenes and making sure that there was the proper coverage to get across whatever jokes or scenes or material we were dealing with that day, making sure we had everything before the sun went down. I guess you're looking for some sort of statement of what kind of interpretive art it is but since I wrote it, I wasn't thinking what does the writer mean? It was like, how much pink can I put in this scene? [Laughter]" (jasa.net). This answer sort of eludes to a sense of displacement with the movie. Almost as if she was not completely invested into the outcome of it, for example conceding that she did not consider the question of "what does the writer mean"? That is interesting considering she was the writer, but I think she is somewhat downplaying her role as auteur, to perhaps take less pressure off of herself, or to be modest.

Clueless was received famously by the press. It earned smashing reviews left and right, from the New York Times to the Washington Post, USA Today and Rolling Stone. Praising this movie as one, "Crammed with pop-culture references to everything from cellular phones to skateboarding to Starbucks (she scores one of her biggest laughs just by showing a Mentos TV commercial), Heckerling's script has even more and better teenspeak lines than "Heathers."" (Washington Post). Critics ranted and raved about the role of the privileged, blond-bimbo with not a care in the world, obsessed with fashion, looks, and maintaining popularity.

Overall, Amy Heckerling's roll of auteur really approaches the films from a teenage perspective. She is in touch with the youth, and what they are going through. What are they going to be when they grow up? What is their self-image? What is their perspective on the world, and on other teenagers? What are they good at? What is cool? There is also a role of gender in Clueless. It is not what the film is solely about, as it is more general to all teenage pop culture, but it does include a lot of body image and style. For example, Cher's ridiculous rotatin closet with the most absurd collection of clothing, or the rampant nose jobs that girls in the school receive. There is also the transformation of Tai, a new girl attending Beverly Hills High School, that Cher and Dionne take on as their "project" to makeover and make her "popular". Heckerling does a fantastic job of portraying these real life ideas and questions in her films, but Clueless really took the nation by storm (Hormonal Pyrotechnics 101).