- Post second wave feminism
- Incubation - womb - birth - Alien uses human as incubator - Women are biological incubator - Women are strong enough to stand birth in reality
- Sigourney Weaver - masculine - mullet
- First scene - almost like a bar
- Masculine job for a woman - intelligent - 'Final Girl' theory Carol J. Clover
- All play important roles on ship, each person specialising, which means each as important as the other and not relying on a man
- "What she gonna do down here anyways?" - "I'd like to see what she's gonna do!" - cultural representations of Woman, 'Other', not useful
- Not provocative in dress, no make up, overalls
- Whole film has connotations of birth - female action - empowering women - only natural to have a woman lead
- eggs (alien eggs) = Ovaries - Incubate in human (Alien) = surrogate mother or woman
- Sigourney was the only one who wanted the others to be quarantined, but the males overpowered her judgement, leading to their fate. Still under pressure, they see women as inadequate and hold their opinions under their own. This showing her maternal side - looking after everyone and not one individual - connotation of motherhood
- Strength it takes for a woman to give birth takes the strength of a woman to stop it (Aliens)
- Signourney once again the only one to say dispose of the Alien, no one listened, yet again mirroring how society treats women, and showing how they should because their opinions are valid
- People treat her like the traditional representation of women - almost like 'be seen, not heard'
- Alien almost looks like a phallus
- Connotations of birth and phallus - Man v Woman - whole film is like man v woman (never listening to her views or thinking she can't fix the ship) - reflection on society at the time, feminists fighting, women's movement
- Underestimating women because of traditional ideology of women placed upon us by patriarchy
- Other girl is an emotional wreck ^
- Does the alien go between the girls legs? Alluding rape? Male gaze
- Phallus looking Alien maybe raping woman - rape in society, why do this to the woman and not the man?
- 'Mother' - Birth connotation once again, women's representation
- Is it showing what people think women are (the emotional female character) and what women can be (Sigourney) - Second wave feminism
- Undressing - doesnt add to the plot - Male gaze
- Camera angle close up on her crotch when getting into the astronaut suit - Male gaze
- Singing at the end whilst killing the Alien - almost like a lullaby "you are my lucky star" - birth/maternal connotation
- Ripley - male name - Final Girl Theory
- Opening scene - all male in incubation - similar to male phallus-like alien and woman
Whilst watching this film the biggest thing that pointed out to me was the all the connotations of birth, the opening scene of the men awakening connotes incubation and with the story of the film being Aliens use human almost like incubators until they hatch. This relates to women and how strong they need to be to with stand child birth, creating an importance for a female role.
Sigourney Weaver fits in with Carol J. Clover 'final girl' theory, with her being quite masculine in look and her job. She also has to be intelligent to do her job and there are numerous examples within the film of her being cautious about her surrounding, which are repeatedly knocked down by the male characters. Supporting and reflecting the cultural representation of Woman.
The Alien within the film, especially when it first emerges out of the original victim's stomach, looks like a phallus, connotes a male Alien. Also when the other female character dies within the film, another phallus looking part of the alien looks as if to be going between her legs, alluding rape and this could be an example of the male gaze as it can be seen to be quite sexual, which would create desire in the onlooking male audience. This makes me question why the alien would choose to do this to the woman and not a man, reflecting how women are treated in different cultures, life forms etc.
The ship's important networking system or hard-drive etc. is called 'mother' another one of the film's connotations of being about birth and women etc. But also representing women as just a mother that overall, looks over all the people on the ship and tells them what to do and they go to it/her for advice.
In one of the last scene's were Sigourney thinks she has survived and escaped, she starts to undress, this adding nothing to the plot of the film, can only be seen as her being objectified for the pleasure of the male audience. The camera shoots images of her bum and then a close up to her crotch whilst getting into the astronaut suit, just from these camera shots and angles it suggests that this was for male desire.
Whilst attempting to kill the alien Sigourney starts to sing "you are my lucky star", almost like a lullaby, yet again its connotation being birth, motherhood etc.
I feel like this film is quite good in regards to feminism, it doesn't show many examples of the male gaze compared to others and only shows the 'Final girl' theory in regards to her look, name, interests and actions, not really creating a bad image of women. Overall, i find it quite empowering as it has a lot of connotations relating to motherhood, child birth etc. almost meaning that a strong woman who can withstand child birth is strong enough to kill what is wanting to be grown from within her. The representations of Woman that are used against Sigourney Weaver in the film only show the ignorance of the male characters, as Ripley (Sigourney) proves them wrong each time, ending up being the only survivor.
Maybe this film was a message to society because at the time the women's movement (Second-wave feminism) had been in play since the 60's and this shows women in quite a positive light, using what society thinks about women and turning it on its head. Although this film doesnt have a lot of examples of the male gaze or the 'Final Girl' theory within it, it is a good example to use as a comparison to the others, as it uses points in which feminist film theorists discuss about cultures, society, ideologies and representations of women as examples within the film and then the character disproves them, almost teaching the audience a lesson?
Thursday, 27 October 2016
Scream 1996 Notes
- Blonde - not overly sexual in dress, although attractive
- Doesn't admit to having a boyfriend, sexually active? - Final girl - Carol J. Clover
- Doesn't arm herself with weapon, only calls upon police or boyfriend for help
- "Big, plays football and he will kick the shit out of you" - masculinity determined by size and hero determined by gender
- Final girl theory - testing the girls intelligence, if she answers wrong she dies, dumb blonde, feminist issue
- Picks a letter opener over the knives in kitchen
- Breathing loads, panting almost sexual as can hear over the dramatic soundtrack
- Stabs breast, oedepic stage? Boy, girl
- Doesn't run, keeps pausing - final girl - not as intuitive as final girl, friends who don't notice things die - Carol J. Clover - Final Girl Theory
- Silverman - female voice - over the phone 'voice over' murmurs, etc. back to baby stage
- Final girl - quite innocent, toys, full covered in nightie,
- Virgin-whore dilemma ideological representation of Woman
- Pg.13 relationship, young innocent girl aspiring to be the Woman from what she sees in the media etc. magazines although not objectified to audience, objectified for male character
- "It takes a 'man"' to do something like that
- Friend dresses scarcely a bit promiscuous
- Sydney not interested in joking about immature things unlike friends - final girl theory
- Male audience shifting to an independent female role as it is sexy
- Although she is the main character the camera focuses on her a lot of the time - male gaze?
- "Big breasted girl that always runs up the stairs when she should go out the front door, it's insulting" - acknowledging stereotypes within the genre
- Brave - final girl
- Intelligent - rings police - Final Girl theory
- Takes comfort from boyfriend, relying on male companion to be okay
- Using sexuality to get what she wants (Gale Weathers), is this empowering or degrading?
- Angles of camera don't focus in on the males as much as the females - male gaze
- Belly top, showing skin, big breasts, pig tails, best friend is the stereotype girl in horror genre
- Dumb blonde, bitch, gender stereotype, ricki lake watching? (Girls in bathroom)
- Very flirtatious friend, not thinking about danger -Final Girl Theory
- Throwing her over the shoulder and carrying her - male gaze - sexual connotations
- Freddy Kruger janitor? Preyed on women in the other film, connotation being that women are easy prey? Passed on between films, janitor called Freddy too
- Final boy? Film geek, analyzes everything, doesn't do the same as his friends, is clued up and not sexually active
- Gale weathers - independent business woman
- Sexual innuendos in the film, unquestioned by anyone, cultural accepting of belittling of men
- Nipples showing, connotating sexual excitement - male gaze
- "Can I be the helpless victim?" - Tatum - Playing up to stereotype, still not noticing classic signs that the final girl would have done
- Girl hanging from garage door, with really short skirt, male gaze
- Slut shaming her mother
- Traditional ideology of women questioned - housewife having affair and sexually promiscuous, gets killed - mother - slut-shamed by others and passes down to child
- Sydney worries that she might end up being like her mam a 'bad seed', why bad seed, because society has represented women as being 1960 pre-secondwave feminism
- Minute she starts to have sex, she begins to loose the final girl qualities, only during the act as she is no longer aware of what's happening around her, she is just focused on the guy and not for her safety
- Dewey falls on gale and connotes the male gaze through speech, from his perspective he creates a sexual meaning after she asks 'is that what you've been looking for?", answering totally out of context as he his reading the situation with desire
- Scream mask mocking the expression within screaming victims, normally female
- Sydney - male name
- Gale weathers a bad ass!! Gets up and goes straight back to work
The series of Scream films have been noted as a feminist series that have changed the rules of the horror genre. Although this is the case, i have discovered some issues of feminist film theory that relates to the film.
Although the female characters are quite strong independent women (in some cases), there are some stereotypical female horror roles that are acted within Scream. Drew Barrymore opens the film as the first victim. Her famous status showing that even she can be a victim, being killed off in the opening act. You can take points from Carol J. Clovers 'Final Girl' theory to analyse this scene. Firstly, She is blonde, although this is not a major point, the stereotype of 'dumb blonde' could fit in here. She is not overly sexualised as she is dressed casually, although when first called she states that she doesn't have a boyfriend (which she does), which insinuates that she is sexually active, maybe promiscuous, being hopeful to a new love interest even though its an unknown caller. Carol J. Clover mentions in 'Men, Women and Chainsaws', that the 'Final Girl' normally survives because she is sexually inactive, stating that the other female characters in film which are sexually active usually get killed off, in affect 'slut-shaming' the female victims.
Whilst on the phone Drew's character says, "my boyfriend is big, plays football, and he will kick your ass", this shows that she is relying on a male figure to come and save her, not retaliating herself saying ' I will kick your ass" and defending herself. The fact that she also mentions his size and hobby, this means that she suggests only men of a certain size and hobby could help, this could be discrimination of masculinity, or questioning it.
Drew's character also is asked to answer a series of questions, to which she has to answer correctly to live. In the 'Final Girl' theory, the heroine is normally a lot smarter than the rest of her friends/other characters, so this is a good example of this theory within the film as she answers the question wrong and is subsequently killed.
Through the opening scene you can hear her panting quite loudly, so loudly in fact, you can hear her over the dramatic soundtrack in the background. This relates to what i noted down about Lara Croft as she does the same. This connotes sexual meaning, pleasing to the male viewer as it can relate to sexual acts. - Male Gaze?
Drew then tries to escape, but constantly pauses wasting time to get away, just like Carol J. Clover states the 'Final Girl' is more intuitive, noticing clues or always being cautious. The 'Final Girl' would not waste time to pause when running away, as this is eventually what makes the killer catch her. Could this be the 'suture' in the first scene (instead of the suture in the film overall), as because in this scene she almost causes her own death, as their are people pulling up to the house and there was a possibility of escape but when the killer jumps out, you almost sympathise as a viewer as she could arguably be the cause of her own death. Plus with the chance of escape, and the fact she has hold of the phone, this is a twist in the film, partnered with her famous status on the role, it can be said this is the 'hook'(suture), which keeps the audience wanting more.
Sydney (The Final Girl), is seen for the first time in her bedroom. She is first seen to be quite an innocent girl, who's still quite young as she has teddies in her room and has a full length covered nightie, which insinuates that she isn't sexually active and probably has different interests than other girls her age (which is proven later in the film). These all fit with the 'Final Girl' theory by Carol J. Clover, as this is a slasher film after all.
This scene is where Sydney battles with cultural representations of Woman i.e. Virgin - Whore, as her boyfriend sneaks in and complains of the lack of sexual activity. After some clothes on action, she then submits to temptation, whether it is her temptation or his is unconcluded, and says "would you settle for a PG. 13 relationship?" which is followed by her opening nightie to show her breasts. PG. 13 is meaning a topless spread in a magazine, which means that the she is aspiring to be 'Woman'. Woman being the examples of women represented in the media etc. which women aspire too thinking this is the right representation but most of the time Woman is an unreachable aim. (not normal body image, airbrushing, not normal every-day woman). In this scene you can also point out the male gaze, although the gaze isnt for the male audience, she is being objectified for the male character within the film, the 'Other' for his sexual desire.
Sydney's best friend Tatum, is what i think to be as the stereotypical female role within the horror genre, she has blonde/ginger hair, big breasts, she sucks lollipops connoting sexual activities - male gaze - she also wears revealing clothes (short skirts, belly tops). Although this could be argued as individuality and the freedom to express yourself and be who you are, especially in a feminist view, you can also say this character has been placed there for the pleasure of the male viewer and the male characters, as her appearance adds nothing to the plot of the film. She also is picked up and thrown about by her partner, in a joking, playful/slightly sexual way, connotating that she is sexually active (especially with partner) and this could be appealing to the male viewers, considering the male gaze and voyeurism, rough or sexual play can be attractive to male audience.
Within the film, the characters address the stereotypical roles within the horror genre, and what the characters do wrong within the films. For instance, Sydney says "It's always a big breasted girl that always runs up the stairs when she should go out the front door, it's insulting", here you can see her pointing out feminist issues within the horror genre, which was a role reinacted for a long time within the films, although chained after the 60's after second-wave feminism started and male audience now wanted a strong female role.
Sydney expresses a lot of the key characteristics of the 'Final Girl' which Carol J. Clover mentions as she firstly has a name that could either be male or female, she also doesnt share the same interests as other characters (in this case she doesnt joke and laugh about the murders etc), she is also really brave, sporting a strong independent female role, and she is also smart and aware, constantly noticing things others aren't and calling the police etc. and ultimately surviving.
Gale Weathers (Courtney Cox) is a very strong independent female role within this film, although she might not be a favourite character, but she plays a role of a successful business woman, who works hard and gets what she wants. She does flirt with the policeman to gain information, although this can be seen as empowering, using her sexuality to get what she wants, or it could be seen as a negative point, almost prostituting herself for info. (although not sleeping with the guy). Apart from this she plays a determined woman, who has obviously turned away the traditional ideology of being a women, as she doesn't have a family or boyfriend, she just lives for the job. After nearly dying at the end, she still turns out to be a heroine by killing the villain, although not the 'final girl', she could fit into that theory though. She then gets back up to go to her job and report what has happened, breaking what the 'ideological state apparatus' promote about representations of gender.
Throughout the film the Sydney's mum is mentioned a lot in the media, in school and in discussions with Sydney and her friends. There are rumours that her mum was promiscuous etc. The town basically slut-shames her mum, to the point where Sydney confesses that she is worried about turning out like her. This shows how society paints women in bad lights if they deviate from the cultures's ideological representation of women. Also the fact that her mum was brutally murdered a year before, is an example of Carol J. Clover's 'Final Girl' Theory, how sexually active women become victims in the horror genre. Traditional ideology of women questioned - housewife having affair and sexually promiscuous, gets killed - mother - slut-shamed by others and passes down to child
Tatum eventually is killed but in this scene she still carries out the points in which Carol J. Clover points out in her theory of the 'Final Girl". Although the killer is right in front of her, she still doesn't realise that he is going to kill her for some time, thinking it is a practical joke, which the 'Final Girl' would have been naturally cautious, suspecting anyone with the costume on. In this scene she actually says "Do you want me to play helpless victim", yet again addressing the stereotypes within the genre. She eventually dies trying to escape from a cat flap in the garage door which is turned on and dies in the contraption, it is here where you can say Laura Mulvey's theory of the male gaze comes into play as her revealing clothes, in this case a short skirt, makes the angle and the way she dies pleasurable for the male viewer, as the angle in which it is filmed, you can nearly see up her skirt.
Towards the end of the Film, Sydney ends up loosing her virginity to her boyfriend (who is also one of the killers). In this moment, she looses part of her "Final Girl' traits whilst in the act. Not fully, but you can argue that whilst she looses her virginity, she looses focus on what is happening around her, the rest of the party downstairs disperses from the property, her best friend Tatum has been killed and she's not aware, all because she has decided to be Sexually active, which is one of the reasons a lot of the female victims end up being killed.
Overall. the film is definitely one of the most feminist friendly horror films within the genre, and somewhat did change the genre slightly, but analysing the film using feminist theories, you can still see the issues throughout the film.
- Doesn't admit to having a boyfriend, sexually active? - Final girl - Carol J. Clover
- Doesn't arm herself with weapon, only calls upon police or boyfriend for help
- "Big, plays football and he will kick the shit out of you" - masculinity determined by size and hero determined by gender
- Final girl theory - testing the girls intelligence, if she answers wrong she dies, dumb blonde, feminist issue
- Picks a letter opener over the knives in kitchen
- Breathing loads, panting almost sexual as can hear over the dramatic soundtrack
- Stabs breast, oedepic stage? Boy, girl
- Doesn't run, keeps pausing - final girl - not as intuitive as final girl, friends who don't notice things die - Carol J. Clover - Final Girl Theory
- Silverman - female voice - over the phone 'voice over' murmurs, etc. back to baby stage
- Final girl - quite innocent, toys, full covered in nightie,
- Virgin-whore dilemma ideological representation of Woman
- Pg.13 relationship, young innocent girl aspiring to be the Woman from what she sees in the media etc. magazines although not objectified to audience, objectified for male character
- "It takes a 'man"' to do something like that
- Friend dresses scarcely a bit promiscuous
- Sydney not interested in joking about immature things unlike friends - final girl theory
- Male audience shifting to an independent female role as it is sexy
- Although she is the main character the camera focuses on her a lot of the time - male gaze?
- "Big breasted girl that always runs up the stairs when she should go out the front door, it's insulting" - acknowledging stereotypes within the genre
- Brave - final girl
- Intelligent - rings police - Final Girl theory
- Takes comfort from boyfriend, relying on male companion to be okay
- Using sexuality to get what she wants (Gale Weathers), is this empowering or degrading?
- Angles of camera don't focus in on the males as much as the females - male gaze
- Belly top, showing skin, big breasts, pig tails, best friend is the stereotype girl in horror genre
- Dumb blonde, bitch, gender stereotype, ricki lake watching? (Girls in bathroom)
- Very flirtatious friend, not thinking about danger -Final Girl Theory
- Throwing her over the shoulder and carrying her - male gaze - sexual connotations
- Freddy Kruger janitor? Preyed on women in the other film, connotation being that women are easy prey? Passed on between films, janitor called Freddy too
- Final boy? Film geek, analyzes everything, doesn't do the same as his friends, is clued up and not sexually active
- Gale weathers - independent business woman
- Sexual innuendos in the film, unquestioned by anyone, cultural accepting of belittling of men
- Nipples showing, connotating sexual excitement - male gaze
- "Can I be the helpless victim?" - Tatum - Playing up to stereotype, still not noticing classic signs that the final girl would have done
- Girl hanging from garage door, with really short skirt, male gaze
- Slut shaming her mother
- Traditional ideology of women questioned - housewife having affair and sexually promiscuous, gets killed - mother - slut-shamed by others and passes down to child
- Sydney worries that she might end up being like her mam a 'bad seed', why bad seed, because society has represented women as being 1960 pre-secondwave feminism
- Minute she starts to have sex, she begins to loose the final girl qualities, only during the act as she is no longer aware of what's happening around her, she is just focused on the guy and not for her safety
- Dewey falls on gale and connotes the male gaze through speech, from his perspective he creates a sexual meaning after she asks 'is that what you've been looking for?", answering totally out of context as he his reading the situation with desire
- Scream mask mocking the expression within screaming victims, normally female
- Sydney - male name
- Gale weathers a bad ass!! Gets up and goes straight back to work
The series of Scream films have been noted as a feminist series that have changed the rules of the horror genre. Although this is the case, i have discovered some issues of feminist film theory that relates to the film.
Although the female characters are quite strong independent women (in some cases), there are some stereotypical female horror roles that are acted within Scream. Drew Barrymore opens the film as the first victim. Her famous status showing that even she can be a victim, being killed off in the opening act. You can take points from Carol J. Clovers 'Final Girl' theory to analyse this scene. Firstly, She is blonde, although this is not a major point, the stereotype of 'dumb blonde' could fit in here. She is not overly sexualised as she is dressed casually, although when first called she states that she doesn't have a boyfriend (which she does), which insinuates that she is sexually active, maybe promiscuous, being hopeful to a new love interest even though its an unknown caller. Carol J. Clover mentions in 'Men, Women and Chainsaws', that the 'Final Girl' normally survives because she is sexually inactive, stating that the other female characters in film which are sexually active usually get killed off, in affect 'slut-shaming' the female victims.
Whilst on the phone Drew's character says, "my boyfriend is big, plays football, and he will kick your ass", this shows that she is relying on a male figure to come and save her, not retaliating herself saying ' I will kick your ass" and defending herself. The fact that she also mentions his size and hobby, this means that she suggests only men of a certain size and hobby could help, this could be discrimination of masculinity, or questioning it.
Drew's character also is asked to answer a series of questions, to which she has to answer correctly to live. In the 'Final Girl' theory, the heroine is normally a lot smarter than the rest of her friends/other characters, so this is a good example of this theory within the film as she answers the question wrong and is subsequently killed.
Through the opening scene you can hear her panting quite loudly, so loudly in fact, you can hear her over the dramatic soundtrack in the background. This relates to what i noted down about Lara Croft as she does the same. This connotes sexual meaning, pleasing to the male viewer as it can relate to sexual acts. - Male Gaze?
Drew then tries to escape, but constantly pauses wasting time to get away, just like Carol J. Clover states the 'Final Girl' is more intuitive, noticing clues or always being cautious. The 'Final Girl' would not waste time to pause when running away, as this is eventually what makes the killer catch her. Could this be the 'suture' in the first scene (instead of the suture in the film overall), as because in this scene she almost causes her own death, as their are people pulling up to the house and there was a possibility of escape but when the killer jumps out, you almost sympathise as a viewer as she could arguably be the cause of her own death. Plus with the chance of escape, and the fact she has hold of the phone, this is a twist in the film, partnered with her famous status on the role, it can be said this is the 'hook'(suture), which keeps the audience wanting more.
Sydney (The Final Girl), is seen for the first time in her bedroom. She is first seen to be quite an innocent girl, who's still quite young as she has teddies in her room and has a full length covered nightie, which insinuates that she isn't sexually active and probably has different interests than other girls her age (which is proven later in the film). These all fit with the 'Final Girl' theory by Carol J. Clover, as this is a slasher film after all.
This scene is where Sydney battles with cultural representations of Woman i.e. Virgin - Whore, as her boyfriend sneaks in and complains of the lack of sexual activity. After some clothes on action, she then submits to temptation, whether it is her temptation or his is unconcluded, and says "would you settle for a PG. 13 relationship?" which is followed by her opening nightie to show her breasts. PG. 13 is meaning a topless spread in a magazine, which means that the she is aspiring to be 'Woman'. Woman being the examples of women represented in the media etc. which women aspire too thinking this is the right representation but most of the time Woman is an unreachable aim. (not normal body image, airbrushing, not normal every-day woman). In this scene you can also point out the male gaze, although the gaze isnt for the male audience, she is being objectified for the male character within the film, the 'Other' for his sexual desire.
Sydney's best friend Tatum, is what i think to be as the stereotypical female role within the horror genre, she has blonde/ginger hair, big breasts, she sucks lollipops connoting sexual activities - male gaze - she also wears revealing clothes (short skirts, belly tops). Although this could be argued as individuality and the freedom to express yourself and be who you are, especially in a feminist view, you can also say this character has been placed there for the pleasure of the male viewer and the male characters, as her appearance adds nothing to the plot of the film. She also is picked up and thrown about by her partner, in a joking, playful/slightly sexual way, connotating that she is sexually active (especially with partner) and this could be appealing to the male viewers, considering the male gaze and voyeurism, rough or sexual play can be attractive to male audience.
Within the film, the characters address the stereotypical roles within the horror genre, and what the characters do wrong within the films. For instance, Sydney says "It's always a big breasted girl that always runs up the stairs when she should go out the front door, it's insulting", here you can see her pointing out feminist issues within the horror genre, which was a role reinacted for a long time within the films, although chained after the 60's after second-wave feminism started and male audience now wanted a strong female role.
Sydney expresses a lot of the key characteristics of the 'Final Girl' which Carol J. Clover mentions as she firstly has a name that could either be male or female, she also doesnt share the same interests as other characters (in this case she doesnt joke and laugh about the murders etc), she is also really brave, sporting a strong independent female role, and she is also smart and aware, constantly noticing things others aren't and calling the police etc. and ultimately surviving.
Gale Weathers (Courtney Cox) is a very strong independent female role within this film, although she might not be a favourite character, but she plays a role of a successful business woman, who works hard and gets what she wants. She does flirt with the policeman to gain information, although this can be seen as empowering, using her sexuality to get what she wants, or it could be seen as a negative point, almost prostituting herself for info. (although not sleeping with the guy). Apart from this she plays a determined woman, who has obviously turned away the traditional ideology of being a women, as she doesn't have a family or boyfriend, she just lives for the job. After nearly dying at the end, she still turns out to be a heroine by killing the villain, although not the 'final girl', she could fit into that theory though. She then gets back up to go to her job and report what has happened, breaking what the 'ideological state apparatus' promote about representations of gender.
Throughout the film the Sydney's mum is mentioned a lot in the media, in school and in discussions with Sydney and her friends. There are rumours that her mum was promiscuous etc. The town basically slut-shames her mum, to the point where Sydney confesses that she is worried about turning out like her. This shows how society paints women in bad lights if they deviate from the cultures's ideological representation of women. Also the fact that her mum was brutally murdered a year before, is an example of Carol J. Clover's 'Final Girl' Theory, how sexually active women become victims in the horror genre. Traditional ideology of women questioned - housewife having affair and sexually promiscuous, gets killed - mother - slut-shamed by others and passes down to child
Tatum eventually is killed but in this scene she still carries out the points in which Carol J. Clover points out in her theory of the 'Final Girl". Although the killer is right in front of her, she still doesn't realise that he is going to kill her for some time, thinking it is a practical joke, which the 'Final Girl' would have been naturally cautious, suspecting anyone with the costume on. In this scene she actually says "Do you want me to play helpless victim", yet again addressing the stereotypes within the genre. She eventually dies trying to escape from a cat flap in the garage door which is turned on and dies in the contraption, it is here where you can say Laura Mulvey's theory of the male gaze comes into play as her revealing clothes, in this case a short skirt, makes the angle and the way she dies pleasurable for the male viewer, as the angle in which it is filmed, you can nearly see up her skirt.
Towards the end of the Film, Sydney ends up loosing her virginity to her boyfriend (who is also one of the killers). In this moment, she looses part of her "Final Girl' traits whilst in the act. Not fully, but you can argue that whilst she looses her virginity, she looses focus on what is happening around her, the rest of the party downstairs disperses from the property, her best friend Tatum has been killed and she's not aware, all because she has decided to be Sexually active, which is one of the reasons a lot of the female victims end up being killed.
Overall. the film is definitely one of the most feminist friendly horror films within the genre, and somewhat did change the genre slightly, but analysing the film using feminist theories, you can still see the issues throughout the film.
Tuesday, 25 October 2016
Feminist Film Theory Notes
I am reading Feminist film Theorists by Shohini Chaudhuri and will be taking notes, some will be quotes to possibly use for essay but mostly i will just be copying exerts from the book, mainly where important details on theories are explained so i can fully understand the concept so i can come back to it and use the concept within my analysis of case studies i.e. Lara Croft: Tomb Raider, Scream and Alien.
Woman ' is defined solely in terms of sexuality, as an object of desire, in relation to, or as a foil for, 'man' - Shohini Chaudhuri pg. 2 -- on Laura Mulvey
Look at: Visual and other pleasures (1989) and Fetishism and Curiosity (1996) - Laura Mulvey
Look at: The Acoustic Mirror (1998) and Male Subjectivity at the Margins (1992) - Kaja Silverman
Teresa de Lauretis - "draws on an alternative theoretical base for her concept of the technology of gender, which seeks to go further than either the work of cultural historian Michel Foucault from which it derived or existing psychoanalytically-informed feminist theories which appeared unable to address the different experiences of women with regard to race, sexuality, and class." - Chaudhuri p.3 - not a quote for essay/just overview of what they look in to
Kaja Silverman - "departs from ongoing feminist debates about the 'gaze' and whether it is male by extending the feminist critique of narrative cinema into the area of the voice, including the question of authorial voice" she also (in her other book) "deals with the phenomenon of male masochism and other forms of male subjectivity that exhibit classically 'feminine' traits. In the process, she exposes the ideological vulnerability of so-called masculine 'norms', showing masculinity itself to be a representational category, not unlike femininity." - Chaudhuri p.3 - not a quote for essay - just summary
Barbara Creed - "Creed has extended feminist insights to many aspects of postmodern culture. In particular, she has produced an extremely influential analysis of patriarchal ideology in the horror genre, which abounds with visions of woman as the 'monstrous-feminine". - Chaudhuri pg.3
Look at: Simone de Beauvoir - The Second Sex (1949)
Martha Lauzen's research into the 'celluloid ceiling' has recently brought to attention the problems within the Hollywood film industry. women are significantly under-represented behind-the-scenes as directors,cinematographers, editors, producers and writers but their chances of advancing through the industry are far less than men's. - Lauzen 2005
^ Not just on the screen but behind the scenes there are major feminist issues within the Hollywood Film Industry, is this why there are so many issues on screen? could this be the norm?
"'Norms of feminine appearance' they promote are unobtainable for most women" Saul 2003:144 - Chaudhuri pg.7
^ Lara Croft, appearance is always perfect, even in fights with robots, falling through tomb ceiling, her appearance never falters.
Western Feminine Ideals - adverts, magazines
Claire Johnston, Kuhn, Pam Cook
"She is defined and differentiated with reference to man and not he with reference to her; she is the incidental, the inessential as opposed to the essential. He is the subject, he is the absolute - She is the Other" de Beauvoir 1993: xxxix-xl)
Beauvoir - asserts that men have claimed this subject position for themselves and, in order to ratify themselves in it, they have reduced women to the position of an objectified 'other', denying women existence for themselves. pg. 16
Beauvoir - Man purports to be universal. He is equated with rationality and transcendence of body. Woman appears as his other: irrational, tied to the body, in all respects defined in relation to man. For de Beauvoir, in the source of this gender hierarchy and sexual inequality is patriarchal culture, as purveyed by 'religion, traditions, language, tales, songs, movies' all of which help compose the way in which people understand and experience the world. pg.16
vehicles for myths - Semiotics - tales in which we believe in something without needing proof
"Men have used the patriarchal myth of the 'eternal feminine' to justify women's oppression.' pg.17 Chaudhuri
'External feminine' - attributes qualities such as inferiority, gentleness and emotionality.
"feminine fulfilment" 1960 American housewife
Freidan's book reiterated how women were defined only in sexual relation to men - this time as "Wife, Sex, object, mother, housewife" pg. 17 Friedan 2001:xv
^ I can compare this to Lara croft:Tomb Raider especially out of the other films i am studying as this film was primarily made based on the game, which main audience was male. The Male Gaze theory can be seen a lot, showing Lara Croft as 'Other' an objectified character purely defined in sexual relation to men. But I could then question whether it is Hollywood that defines the character only in sexual relation to men or whether it was the game company, but if it is the latter then Hollywood must take the responsibility of reinforcing and allowing this, so all in all the blame falls on both the games company and the Film Industry.
Ideology - set of rules or beliefs that we are taught, normally by authoritative figures, like priests, teachers, police officers etc. - patriarchy
denotation - literal meaning
connotation - Implied/associated meaning.
"myth transmits and transforms that ideology of sexism and renders it invisible" - Johnston 2000:25 pg.26
Hollywood uses iconography - visual and stylistic motifs making up a system of signs based on genre conventions - to build its mythical female stereotypes.
Johnston - semiotics in feminism, Marxism, structuralism
'Women's voices are invariably tied to bodily spectacle, presented as 'thick with body' - for example, crying, panting, or screaming - and insistently held to the rule of synchronisation, which marries the voice with the image.' - Chaudhuri pg. 45
Suture - the 'hook' by which the film accomplishes the entrapment of the viewer - Silverman
Chaudhuri pg. 50
Cinematic enunciator - Tape recorder, machines etc. the bit we don't see within the film that adds narrative - Psycho 1960 shower scene - only see stabbing knife, no other character for the viewer to identify with, except the enunciator (tape recorder, machines (sounds and Camera shots etc.)) leaving the viewer looking for meaning and narrative they sympathise with the killer, feeling anxious for him etc. this is suture - the 'hook' - the entrapment - Silverman 1983:212 Chaudhuri 50
Woman - woman is represented in the media and advertising
Women always aspire to woman - reinforce unachievable
Cultural representations of Woman - virgin and whore - housewife and business woman
The image of woman, moreover, casts none other than a man's shadow. pg 63 de Lauretis 1987:104
'When she writes 'Woman' (usually with a capital 'W'), she means 'a fictional construct', an essence ascribed to all women distilled from numerous Western cultural discourses. (de Lauretis 1984:5) pg.63 Chaudhuri
Althusser -'ideological state apparatus' - 'the media, schools, family and law courts. All these institutions produce discourses that have the power to produce and promote representations of gender, which are then accepted and internalized by subjects.' - Chaudhuri pg. 67
'The powerful social technologies such as mainstream cinema undoubtedly affects the way in which gender is internalized and constructed by individuals - but our individual self-representations of gender impact on the broader social construction of gender, too. - de Lauretis 1987:9 - Chaudhuri pg. 67
'When i look at the movies, film theorists try to tell me thst the gaze is male, the camera eye is masculine, and so my look is also not a woman's. But i don't believe them anymore, because now i think i know what it is to look at a film as a woman' - de Lauretis 1987:113 pg. 68
'Women's cinema" - films by women, made for women, or dealing with women, or allof these combined.
"the conscious attempt to address the viewer as female, irrespective of it's viewers' actual gender, is what 'allows the film to draw to it's discursive texture something of that "real" which is the untheorized experience of women' de Lauretis 1987:119 - Chaudhuri pg. 68
'Oedipal contract, therefore, lays the foundations for (patriarchal) social stability bu urging the boy to identify with the father and objectifying the mother' - Chaudhuri pg 71
^ Fairytales, Monarchy, Son proceeds father on the throne, to marry wife who will be queen - reflection of father and mother
Woman ' is defined solely in terms of sexuality, as an object of desire, in relation to, or as a foil for, 'man' - Shohini Chaudhuri pg. 2 -- on Laura Mulvey
Look at: Visual and other pleasures (1989) and Fetishism and Curiosity (1996) - Laura Mulvey
Look at: The Acoustic Mirror (1998) and Male Subjectivity at the Margins (1992) - Kaja Silverman
Teresa de Lauretis - "draws on an alternative theoretical base for her concept of the technology of gender, which seeks to go further than either the work of cultural historian Michel Foucault from which it derived or existing psychoanalytically-informed feminist theories which appeared unable to address the different experiences of women with regard to race, sexuality, and class." - Chaudhuri p.3 - not a quote for essay/just overview of what they look in to
Kaja Silverman - "departs from ongoing feminist debates about the 'gaze' and whether it is male by extending the feminist critique of narrative cinema into the area of the voice, including the question of authorial voice" she also (in her other book) "deals with the phenomenon of male masochism and other forms of male subjectivity that exhibit classically 'feminine' traits. In the process, she exposes the ideological vulnerability of so-called masculine 'norms', showing masculinity itself to be a representational category, not unlike femininity." - Chaudhuri p.3 - not a quote for essay - just summary
Barbara Creed - "Creed has extended feminist insights to many aspects of postmodern culture. In particular, she has produced an extremely influential analysis of patriarchal ideology in the horror genre, which abounds with visions of woman as the 'monstrous-feminine". - Chaudhuri pg.3
Look at: Simone de Beauvoir - The Second Sex (1949)
Martha Lauzen's research into the 'celluloid ceiling' has recently brought to attention the problems within the Hollywood film industry. women are significantly under-represented behind-the-scenes as directors,cinematographers, editors, producers and writers but their chances of advancing through the industry are far less than men's. - Lauzen 2005
^ Not just on the screen but behind the scenes there are major feminist issues within the Hollywood Film Industry, is this why there are so many issues on screen? could this be the norm?
"'Norms of feminine appearance' they promote are unobtainable for most women" Saul 2003:144 - Chaudhuri pg.7
^ Lara Croft, appearance is always perfect, even in fights with robots, falling through tomb ceiling, her appearance never falters.
Western Feminine Ideals - adverts, magazines
Claire Johnston, Kuhn, Pam Cook
"She is defined and differentiated with reference to man and not he with reference to her; she is the incidental, the inessential as opposed to the essential. He is the subject, he is the absolute - She is the Other" de Beauvoir 1993: xxxix-xl)
Beauvoir - asserts that men have claimed this subject position for themselves and, in order to ratify themselves in it, they have reduced women to the position of an objectified 'other', denying women existence for themselves. pg. 16
Beauvoir - Man purports to be universal. He is equated with rationality and transcendence of body. Woman appears as his other: irrational, tied to the body, in all respects defined in relation to man. For de Beauvoir, in the source of this gender hierarchy and sexual inequality is patriarchal culture, as purveyed by 'religion, traditions, language, tales, songs, movies' all of which help compose the way in which people understand and experience the world. pg.16
vehicles for myths - Semiotics - tales in which we believe in something without needing proof
"Men have used the patriarchal myth of the 'eternal feminine' to justify women's oppression.' pg.17 Chaudhuri
'External feminine' - attributes qualities such as inferiority, gentleness and emotionality.
"feminine fulfilment" 1960 American housewife
Freidan's book reiterated how women were defined only in sexual relation to men - this time as "Wife, Sex, object, mother, housewife" pg. 17 Friedan 2001:xv
^ I can compare this to Lara croft:Tomb Raider especially out of the other films i am studying as this film was primarily made based on the game, which main audience was male. The Male Gaze theory can be seen a lot, showing Lara Croft as 'Other' an objectified character purely defined in sexual relation to men. But I could then question whether it is Hollywood that defines the character only in sexual relation to men or whether it was the game company, but if it is the latter then Hollywood must take the responsibility of reinforcing and allowing this, so all in all the blame falls on both the games company and the Film Industry.
Ideology - set of rules or beliefs that we are taught, normally by authoritative figures, like priests, teachers, police officers etc. - patriarchy
denotation - literal meaning
connotation - Implied/associated meaning.
"myth transmits and transforms that ideology of sexism and renders it invisible" - Johnston 2000:25 pg.26
Hollywood uses iconography - visual and stylistic motifs making up a system of signs based on genre conventions - to build its mythical female stereotypes.
Johnston - semiotics in feminism, Marxism, structuralism
'Women's voices are invariably tied to bodily spectacle, presented as 'thick with body' - for example, crying, panting, or screaming - and insistently held to the rule of synchronisation, which marries the voice with the image.' - Chaudhuri pg. 45
Suture - the 'hook' by which the film accomplishes the entrapment of the viewer - Silverman
Chaudhuri pg. 50
Cinematic enunciator - Tape recorder, machines etc. the bit we don't see within the film that adds narrative - Psycho 1960 shower scene - only see stabbing knife, no other character for the viewer to identify with, except the enunciator (tape recorder, machines (sounds and Camera shots etc.)) leaving the viewer looking for meaning and narrative they sympathise with the killer, feeling anxious for him etc. this is suture - the 'hook' - the entrapment - Silverman 1983:212 Chaudhuri 50
Woman - woman is represented in the media and advertising
Women always aspire to woman - reinforce unachievable
Cultural representations of Woman - virgin and whore - housewife and business woman
The image of woman, moreover, casts none other than a man's shadow. pg 63 de Lauretis 1987:104
'When she writes 'Woman' (usually with a capital 'W'), she means 'a fictional construct', an essence ascribed to all women distilled from numerous Western cultural discourses. (de Lauretis 1984:5) pg.63 Chaudhuri
Althusser -'ideological state apparatus' - 'the media, schools, family and law courts. All these institutions produce discourses that have the power to produce and promote representations of gender, which are then accepted and internalized by subjects.' - Chaudhuri pg. 67
'The powerful social technologies such as mainstream cinema undoubtedly affects the way in which gender is internalized and constructed by individuals - but our individual self-representations of gender impact on the broader social construction of gender, too. - de Lauretis 1987:9 - Chaudhuri pg. 67
'When i look at the movies, film theorists try to tell me thst the gaze is male, the camera eye is masculine, and so my look is also not a woman's. But i don't believe them anymore, because now i think i know what it is to look at a film as a woman' - de Lauretis 1987:113 pg. 68
'Women's cinema" - films by women, made for women, or dealing with women, or allof these combined.
"the conscious attempt to address the viewer as female, irrespective of it's viewers' actual gender, is what 'allows the film to draw to it's discursive texture something of that "real" which is the untheorized experience of women' de Lauretis 1987:119 - Chaudhuri pg. 68
'Oedipal contract, therefore, lays the foundations for (patriarchal) social stability bu urging the boy to identify with the father and objectifying the mother' - Chaudhuri pg 71
^ Fairytales, Monarchy, Son proceeds father on the throne, to marry wife who will be queen - reflection of father and mother
Lara Croft: The Cradle of Life 2003 - Notes
- Bikini - Everyone else fully clothed
Although i am not using Lara Croft: The Cradle of Life as one of my case studies in my essay i thought it would be good to watch and use as a comparison to either prove my analysis is the same within both of the films or not.
I found that the second film doesn't have as many issues relating to the male gaze, i felt like the film had a better plot so it was focused more on that than impressing the male audience and gamers. There was still quite a lot of camera shots that focused on Lara Croft's anatomy for male pleasure but it wasn't as frequent and obvious. I wondered whether the target audience had changed since the first film, as the first was made due to the game, which primarily had a male audience, but if a lot of women went to see the first film, then they would have had to change the target audience for the second, being more subtle with the sexual innuendos as women are not impressed by this.
There is a sex scene within the film, Lara Croft is on top so she is the main focal point within the scene, implying the male gaze. She also seems to be the most dominant, which is a fantasy mainly carried out by men.
Although this film isn't as strong with feminist theory, i can write about this to compare.
- Camera - Vagina and cleavage shot
- Rolling with the legs spread - provocative pose
- Side Saddle - Strange for her to be doing this with it being 'lady-like'
- She says "Accessorising" when gathering weapons - women's term, play on words
- Another bum shot
- Has the audience changed?
- Plot is richer
- Cleavage shot
- Sex scene mainly her shown and shows her dominating
Although i am not using Lara Croft: The Cradle of Life as one of my case studies in my essay i thought it would be good to watch and use as a comparison to either prove my analysis is the same within both of the films or not.
I found that the second film doesn't have as many issues relating to the male gaze, i felt like the film had a better plot so it was focused more on that than impressing the male audience and gamers. There was still quite a lot of camera shots that focused on Lara Croft's anatomy for male pleasure but it wasn't as frequent and obvious. I wondered whether the target audience had changed since the first film, as the first was made due to the game, which primarily had a male audience, but if a lot of women went to see the first film, then they would have had to change the target audience for the second, being more subtle with the sexual innuendos as women are not impressed by this.
There is a sex scene within the film, Lara Croft is on top so she is the main focal point within the scene, implying the male gaze. She also seems to be the most dominant, which is a fantasy mainly carried out by men.
Although this film isn't as strong with feminist theory, i can write about this to compare.
Lara Croft: Tomb Raider 2001 Movie Notes
I recently watched the Lara Croft: Tomb Raider film from 2001, whilst watching i started to take notes, analysing the film using the Male gaze theory. My notes are pretty brief, just noting down the key points, camera angles etc.
- Camera focusing on thighs
- Rolling around, legs wide open
- Robot between legs - hinting at rape? sexual innuendo?
- Angle shot between legs
- Grunting - loud grunts, sexual noises
- Walks quite masculine
- Shower scene - adds nothing to plot - very sexual
- Naked scene - partial view of breast
- Butler - be a lady, wear a dress
- Holds dad of high esteem - only shows emotion towards a man
- Only does what she does because of a man (her dad)
- Grey - masculine bedding
- Rides a motorbike
- Acts like a man
- Target Audience game - movie
- Legs wide apart when sat down - posture like a man
- PJ's unbuttoned revealing flesh
- Bum camera shot
- Film is shot like the game
- Male shower scene - not as long but nearly a full frontal of Daniel Craig although you don't see any parts unlike the female shower scene.
In this film i realised that the theory of the male gaze can be shown quite a lot in this film. The way the film was made, right from the camera angles when filming, all suggest that this film was made primarily for the pleasure of a male audience. There are unnecessary camera shots focusing on the body parts of Lara Croft (Angelina Jolie), from her thigh, bum and breasts. Also the way her role has been acted as she has a lot of action scenes where she is in quite provocative positions, with her legs spread etc.
The opening scene of her fighting the robot shows this quite a lot, especially the part where the robot is continuously striking between her legs, which are spread, this could be a sexual innuendo, hinting rape maybe, appealing to the male audience watching the film. In this scene she is also grunting quite a lot, which is louder than the actual background music edited onto the film, these are quite sexual, once again pleasing the male viewer.
The shower scene with Angelina Jolie adds nothing to the plot except watching her naked in the shower, then once she gets out you can see part of her breast and bottom, this is obviously for the male audience as the story to the film would be no less without this scene. The male shower scene on the hand isn't as long as the female shower scene, although you do nearly see a full frontal from Daniel Craig, except the camera angle hides his dignity. This reminds me of Art museums, how there are always full of naked paintings of women but very rarely you see a painting of a man naked. So this is still taking on the old age traditional view of women that society has just come to terms with, the Male Gaze can be seen in old and new examples of art form although we have supposed to have moved on.
In the film Lara Croft is scarcely clad, wearing very revealing clothes, especially for an archeologist, this is obviously because it is made from the game, in which she wears all these outfits for the pleasure of the male gamer. But in some areas of the film, like the scene where she is doing gymnastics on bungie ropes, her PJ's are barely buttoned, revealing a lot of flesh, this seems like this is purely for the male gaze, as it is not suitable attire for the activity she's doing and even more so when the house gets under attack.
This film shows many examples that coincide with the male gaze (Laura Mulvey) and Carol J. Clover's theory of the 'final girl'. Although the 'final girl' theory is based around slasher movies, it can be applied to this movie also, as the heroine of the film, Lara Croft, is portrayed as quite a masculine woman, not interested in female hobbies, clothes etc. she doesnt have any female friends (which are mentioned in the film), she likes male interests like fighting, guns, cars, motorbikes etc. She also has a lot of masculine characteristics, for instance, she walks like a man and her posture, especially when sat down is not lady like at all as she sits with her legs wide open. This does not empower women at all, it only shows you have to forget all the womanly traights in order to be a heroine or to survive any disaster etc. Showing that if you act like a man, like masculine things, hobbies etc. you will be able to win.
- Camera focusing on thighs
- Rolling around, legs wide open
- Robot between legs - hinting at rape? sexual innuendo?
- Angle shot between legs
- Grunting - loud grunts, sexual noises
- Walks quite masculine
- Shower scene - adds nothing to plot - very sexual
- Naked scene - partial view of breast
- Butler - be a lady, wear a dress
- Holds dad of high esteem - only shows emotion towards a man
- Only does what she does because of a man (her dad)
- Grey - masculine bedding
- Rides a motorbike
- Acts like a man
- Target Audience game - movie
- Legs wide apart when sat down - posture like a man
- PJ's unbuttoned revealing flesh
- Bum camera shot
- Film is shot like the game
- Male shower scene - not as long but nearly a full frontal of Daniel Craig although you don't see any parts unlike the female shower scene.
In this film i realised that the theory of the male gaze can be shown quite a lot in this film. The way the film was made, right from the camera angles when filming, all suggest that this film was made primarily for the pleasure of a male audience. There are unnecessary camera shots focusing on the body parts of Lara Croft (Angelina Jolie), from her thigh, bum and breasts. Also the way her role has been acted as she has a lot of action scenes where she is in quite provocative positions, with her legs spread etc.
The opening scene of her fighting the robot shows this quite a lot, especially the part where the robot is continuously striking between her legs, which are spread, this could be a sexual innuendo, hinting rape maybe, appealing to the male audience watching the film. In this scene she is also grunting quite a lot, which is louder than the actual background music edited onto the film, these are quite sexual, once again pleasing the male viewer.
The shower scene with Angelina Jolie adds nothing to the plot except watching her naked in the shower, then once she gets out you can see part of her breast and bottom, this is obviously for the male audience as the story to the film would be no less without this scene. The male shower scene on the hand isn't as long as the female shower scene, although you do nearly see a full frontal from Daniel Craig, except the camera angle hides his dignity. This reminds me of Art museums, how there are always full of naked paintings of women but very rarely you see a painting of a man naked. So this is still taking on the old age traditional view of women that society has just come to terms with, the Male Gaze can be seen in old and new examples of art form although we have supposed to have moved on.
In the film Lara Croft is scarcely clad, wearing very revealing clothes, especially for an archeologist, this is obviously because it is made from the game, in which she wears all these outfits for the pleasure of the male gamer. But in some areas of the film, like the scene where she is doing gymnastics on bungie ropes, her PJ's are barely buttoned, revealing a lot of flesh, this seems like this is purely for the male gaze, as it is not suitable attire for the activity she's doing and even more so when the house gets under attack.
This film shows many examples that coincide with the male gaze (Laura Mulvey) and Carol J. Clover's theory of the 'final girl'. Although the 'final girl' theory is based around slasher movies, it can be applied to this movie also, as the heroine of the film, Lara Croft, is portrayed as quite a masculine woman, not interested in female hobbies, clothes etc. she doesnt have any female friends (which are mentioned in the film), she likes male interests like fighting, guns, cars, motorbikes etc. She also has a lot of masculine characteristics, for instance, she walks like a man and her posture, especially when sat down is not lady like at all as she sits with her legs wide open. This does not empower women at all, it only shows you have to forget all the womanly traights in order to be a heroine or to survive any disaster etc. Showing that if you act like a man, like masculine things, hobbies etc. you will be able to win.
Monday, 24 October 2016
Making my Game
After the practical workshop i was really inspired and motivated to start with making my game and planning it. I thought the best place to start would be to go to 3D and print to see what i could do and what resources there is in the uni that i could use to make a board game, and from that i know my options before i start designing.
I first went down to 3D to see how i could make the packaging elements for my game. I found that i can laser cut my net for the packaging, which i would need an induction which i can book with the programme administrator. This would be really useful as it can cut thick materials an do it precisely, which will be good to produce a professional box, with good, sturdy materials.
Whilst i was there i spoke to the technician where i asked about plastic vacuum moulding, which i would like to use for inside the box to have compartments for the different elements of the game. Although i know this isn't exactly a necessity, i want to make the game as professional as i can, with this being what i think, an important part to the presentation.
To do this i wouldn't need an induction, i just need to go a week before to book a slot with them. I will need help to make a wooden mould for the vacuuming. He reminded me that i will need to consider tapered angles for each compartment within my design, otherwise it is difficult to get the plastic away from the mould. I will have to keep this in mind and spend adequate time on designing so these issues can be resolved.
I also need to measure the size of the vacuum before designing as i will need to take into consideration what size mould can fit into the machine.
I then went to the digital print room to see what options there are for printing a board game, whether i can print onto a thick board etc. He told me that i could actually print onto board, but the only problem with that is that i wouldn't be able to fold it. Although this could be used as an alternative, i would really like to find a way that i could make it fold, so it could fit in the box and it all be functional like a real game.
After this i spoke to my tutor who told me a way that i could make a board that actually folds. It wouldn't be a technique that would last long term, but as a prototype it would be very good as it wouldn't be used a lot. With this i would need two halves of the board and then leave a slight gap in between and use the material used in hard back book covers to hold the boards together at the back and the game design printed and stuck on the front, the gap in the middle of the board making it able to fold up.
I first went down to 3D to see how i could make the packaging elements for my game. I found that i can laser cut my net for the packaging, which i would need an induction which i can book with the programme administrator. This would be really useful as it can cut thick materials an do it precisely, which will be good to produce a professional box, with good, sturdy materials.
Whilst i was there i spoke to the technician where i asked about plastic vacuum moulding, which i would like to use for inside the box to have compartments for the different elements of the game. Although i know this isn't exactly a necessity, i want to make the game as professional as i can, with this being what i think, an important part to the presentation.
To do this i wouldn't need an induction, i just need to go a week before to book a slot with them. I will need help to make a wooden mould for the vacuuming. He reminded me that i will need to consider tapered angles for each compartment within my design, otherwise it is difficult to get the plastic away from the mould. I will have to keep this in mind and spend adequate time on designing so these issues can be resolved.
I also need to measure the size of the vacuum before designing as i will need to take into consideration what size mould can fit into the machine.
I then went to the digital print room to see what options there are for printing a board game, whether i can print onto a thick board etc. He told me that i could actually print onto board, but the only problem with that is that i wouldn't be able to fold it. Although this could be used as an alternative, i would really like to find a way that i could make it fold, so it could fit in the box and it all be functional like a real game.
After this i spoke to my tutor who told me a way that i could make a board that actually folds. It wouldn't be a technique that would last long term, but as a prototype it would be very good as it wouldn't be used a lot. With this i would need two halves of the board and then leave a slight gap in between and use the material used in hard back book covers to hold the boards together at the back and the game design printed and stuck on the front, the gap in the middle of the board making it able to fold up.
Practical as a Brief
We had to write our proposal out in a brief format, for it to be annotated by someone else to get feedback on how we can make it more precise. Mine was still pretty vague after the feedback but the comments are still useful when writing another one.
Will it talk about the history or modern feminism?
Well this would be both really, as both modern and historical have helped to change the norm for women, so all of it is relevant and to be educational, as if the child didn't know anything, i would want to cover most areas and leave things open for them to do research for themselves.
Will it talk about the people who create a negative reflection on feminism?
I think this a good point to think about, as it could be mentioned but i wanted to keep this more informative on the points in which females fight for or whats happened to them to do this. But of course there needs to be opposite sides, i would like to be as well-rounded within this project so it would be good to show both sides of it, how i will do this, im not sure yet. After analysing the rules in which monopoly works, i will see what information can fit in and how i can do it, whether its on a 'chance' card etc.
What main points will be used to inform?
I would like to use the key dates, achievements, women etc. within the game, these will be both historical, modern, radical etc. Theres a lot of different things thats helped the women's movement over the years, all of these i would like to include in the game, to give a well-rounded educational game, this will come more when i understand the rules of the game so i can adapt them to my concept, and then i can figure out which information will fit best in regards to the format of the game.
I would also like to hint at things in which the children can then go and look into themselves for example.
Chance card:
"Vladimir Putin has sent you to jail, your charged with "Hooliganism motivated by religious hatred" after protesting for rights. Spend your next three turns in Jail"
So this doesnt directly mention Pussy Riot, as i dont think it would be ethical to mention the name on the game as its for children, but from this the children can ask or research into this further.
Would it be used in homes or just schools?
Well i guess it could be used at home as well as schools, obviously the context of the game is educational, but this doesn't necessarily mean it has to be just in schools, if at all. Parents may want to inform their children on this subject, even if it is to show them their self worth, I know a lot of feminists and im sure they would want to pass on their beliefs to their kids, and a board game would be the a fun way of gaining their attention in the subject.
How will you make it fun for a child?
Well i understand that some of the content wont be seen as fun for a child, as it is quite serious and is factual. But i am hoping the fact that it is a game gains some popularity with the children. Not only that but i would like to use paper cut game pieces, which will be famous feminists, with a short synopsis of each person on an information leaflet given with the game, so the children can then pick who they want to be as they move around the game, hopefully this gives them a sense of being in the game, playing as another character.
I would also like to make the packaging and the board itself appealing to children, I want to contain a sense of professionalism with a topic that is quite serious, but also appeal to children at the same time as this is my target audience. This will come with experimenting with designs and trial and error and feedback.
Would a parent buy this for their child, colourful/packaging?
My honest answer is that im not sure, I cant make someone buy the game, it is purely based on wheter a parent wants to inform their child on the subject as it isnt a mandatory subject to learn. With the packaging, it obviously will be colourful and should be appealing to children as that is my target audience, if it doesn't, i will have done something wrong when im designing it.
Talk about feminism in other cultures?
Well i will mention key points and examples of feminism, this will depend on the relevance, not where it is, so it can mention different countries etc.
Make it fun but gender neutral?
Im planning on making the game fun as it is for children but it will also be gender neutral as i need it to reflect the values within feminism like breaking gender stereotypes.
Overall, even though i have now answered the feedback on this sheet, this is really helpful as i can now mention what i have answered on another brief form to make it more refined and detailed.
Practical Proposal after Feedback
This is the proposal we had to make in the workshop after we got the feedback, this was supposed to be more detailed after the feedback but as i was second guessing my concept, mine is more vague.
I think if i had kept to my original idea within the workshop I could write a refined proposal as my idea is quite solid at the moment, so im not happy with this as it isnt very specific at all.
Thursday, 20 October 2016
Practical Workshop
In this session, we first had to start with relaying to each other what we were planning on making for our practical response. I started first and i got mixed feedback:
- The first thing that was pointed out was that they thought it doesn't synthesize well with my written work, as my essay is on feminism in film and my practical work is just on feminism in general. Educating children on the history and key events and major points that has happened in feminism.
- The second thing that was mentioned was that maybe i should do a different game than monopoly as it has quite a lot of components, so it would be difficult to recreate. And i should at doing a game based on the characters within the films that i am watching and maybe over stereotype them to emphisize the key traits within the films. e.g. cluedo with the dumb blonde in the kitchen with the candlestick
This feedback definitely made me second guess the work that i had already proposed, as i was really happy with my concept but it did make me think whether the written and practical would go well together, and if i was aiming too high with the monopoly board.
After a discussion with my tutor and a think about my feedback i realised that although the feedback was good, i have made conscious decisions why i have chosen to make an educational board game and it does go with my written work, even though its not directly connected. I didn't want to illustrate what i was writing in my essay, so i deliberately decided to go in a different direction with it.
Although the game is based to educate children on feminism and not feminism in film, i can justify this by the fact that if children/teenagers were educated on the topic then feminism in film could be recognised more and the gender stereotypes in film could be questioned by the younger generation, possibly encouraging a change within the Hollywood film industry.
The origin of the monopoly board adds a lot of context, with it being made by a suffragist initially and sold of by a man who later re-designed it with the same concept, compared to any other board game i could have chosen.
I understand that the monopoly game is quite complex with a lot of components and rules but i am determined to recreate my own version, i just need to manage my time and organisation. The fact that i am really enjoying cop this year is motivating to want to give myself a big task to do.
Overall, the session was really helpful to me, although the feedback made me question my work, it eventually helped me to reflect on the reasons why i wont change my concept with the feedback given and gain confidence with the choices i have been making.
- The first thing that was pointed out was that they thought it doesn't synthesize well with my written work, as my essay is on feminism in film and my practical work is just on feminism in general. Educating children on the history and key events and major points that has happened in feminism.
- The second thing that was mentioned was that maybe i should do a different game than monopoly as it has quite a lot of components, so it would be difficult to recreate. And i should at doing a game based on the characters within the films that i am watching and maybe over stereotype them to emphisize the key traits within the films. e.g. cluedo with the dumb blonde in the kitchen with the candlestick
This feedback definitely made me second guess the work that i had already proposed, as i was really happy with my concept but it did make me think whether the written and practical would go well together, and if i was aiming too high with the monopoly board.
After a discussion with my tutor and a think about my feedback i realised that although the feedback was good, i have made conscious decisions why i have chosen to make an educational board game and it does go with my written work, even though its not directly connected. I didn't want to illustrate what i was writing in my essay, so i deliberately decided to go in a different direction with it.
Although the game is based to educate children on feminism and not feminism in film, i can justify this by the fact that if children/teenagers were educated on the topic then feminism in film could be recognised more and the gender stereotypes in film could be questioned by the younger generation, possibly encouraging a change within the Hollywood film industry.
The origin of the monopoly board adds a lot of context, with it being made by a suffragist initially and sold of by a man who later re-designed it with the same concept, compared to any other board game i could have chosen.
I understand that the monopoly game is quite complex with a lot of components and rules but i am determined to recreate my own version, i just need to manage my time and organisation. The fact that i am really enjoying cop this year is motivating to want to give myself a big task to do.
Overall, the session was really helpful to me, although the feedback made me question my work, it eventually helped me to reflect on the reasons why i wont change my concept with the feedback given and gain confidence with the choices i have been making.
Updated Practical Proposal
For the workshop i had to bring a practical proposal form, which was pretty straight forward after the tutorial i had last week. I feel like ive got a pretty solid idea to start with.
Friday, 14 October 2016
Monopoly Origin
Ralph Anspach wasn't going to stop making his Anti-Monopolygame just because Parker Brothers told him to. At least not without a fight.
It was 1974 and Anspach, an economics professor at San Francisco State University, was caught in a legal battle with the makers of the popular board game Monopoly for allegedly infringing on the game's copyright. The premise of Anspach's game, as its title suggests, was to bust trusts rather than create them. He wanted to use it as a teaching tool, especially for children.
In his quest to prove that Monopoly's roots far preceded its 1935 patent, he discovered that its origins dated back to 1904, in a game that was very similar to his own. After a long legal battle, Parker Brothers ended up with the Anti-Monopoly name, but let Anspach print the game under license — more importantly, the court validated that Anspach had proven that Monopoly was not as original as it had seemed to be.
Mary Pilon wrote a piece for the Wall Street Journal about Anspach in 2009 after coming across his story. Her research grew into her new book "The Monopolists: Obsession, Fury, and the Scandal Behind the World's Favorite Board Game." It's the first journalistic account of the true origin of the game that Parker Brothers' parent company Hasbro says has sold more than 275 million times across 111 countries in 43 languages.
Ralph Anspach's mission to keep producing his Anti-Monopoly game unearthed the true origin of Monopoly.antimonopoly.com
For decades after its 1935 launch, Parker Bros' Monopoly board game included an origin story in its instruction manual that was a celebration of the American Dream: Charles Darrow, an unemployed salesman determined to support his family during the Great Depression — or at the very least entertain them — tinkered away in his basement on a game about buying property. Parker Brothers initially turned down the game, but after it gained popularity through word of mouth, the company bought Monopoly, it became a sensation, and both Darrow and Parker Brothers enjoyed fame and fortune.
If the instruction manual told the full truth, it would begin with Elizabeth "Lizzie" Magie designing the Landlord's Game in 1903 as a teaching tool. It was the Progressive Era in the U.S. and Magie, the daughter of an abolitionist, was a suffragist and Georgist, a follower of the writer and economist Henry George.
George's 1879 book "Progress and Poverty" was a foundational text of the Progressive movement and reports from the time say that it became so popular that several million copies were sold, making it the most read book in America for a time, second only to the Bible.
"The amount of wealth being created in this country was something nobody had ever really seen before," Pilon says, and George was searching for ways to protect regular people from being exploited by wealthy land owners.
A main tenet of George's philosophy is the single-tax theory, which essentially replaces all taxes deemed unfair with a tax on land only, not the properties built on top of them.
George died in 1897, and so Magie believed she was doing her part to keep the fight alive through her game. She included two rule sets with her game: the anti-monopolist rules and the monopolist rules. The idea was that she could expose the evils of land-grabbing by having players see how it works.A version of Lizzie Magie's Landlord's Game.Tom Forsyth
It turned out that most people found the monopoly rules more fun. And though Magie patented the Landlord's Game in 1904, the nature of game culture at the time combined with the lack of a mass production deal resulted in it becoming a "folk game," as Pilon calls it, meaning groups of people throughout the country would learn about the game through word of mouth and develop their own variation.
The Landlord Game's unofficial offspring became popular in the Progressive and academic communities, including the radical leftist utopia Arden in Delaware, which included Pulitzer Prize-winning author Upton Sinclair and controversial economist Scott Nearing among its residents.
Magie obtained a patent for an updated version of the game in 1924, but by the early '30s, the game and its original intentions were significantly overshadowed by the monopoly folk game.
Among its biggest fans were a large group of Quakers in Atlantic City. It was this version that Charles Darrow played with some friends.
Not everything about the fake Monopoly origin story were false. Darrow was unemployed at the height of the Depression and at his wit's end. One of his sons had scarlet fever and he lacked funds for getting him proper treatment.
Charles Darrow, the man who sold his version of Monopoly to Parker Brothers.Associated Press
One day he decided that he would try marketing that board game he had played. He got his successful cartoonist friend, F.O. Alexander, to spice up the board with some illustrations.
After Milton Bradley and Parker Brothers each turned it down once, Darrow got his game called Monopoly a large enough following that Parker Brothers bought it for $7,000 plus residuals in 1935.
The game company sold 278,000 copies of Monopoly in its first year, and then 1,751,000 the next year, which Pilon says brought Parker Brothers millions in profits.
In letters Pilon includes in her book, Darrow tells Parker Brothers that he was inspired by a game he played with his friends that was based off one they learned from a college professor. Darrow keeps his language vague and unclear.
By the time the game took off, Parker Brothers became aware that Darrow's Monopoly game had at the very least some heavy inspiration, and so began to acquire any other "folk game" offshoots that were still out there.
It didn't take long for people to realize Monopoly seemed quite familiar.Washington Evening Star
At one point very early in Monopoly's life, an article ran that exposed to the public its true origin story. "Very likely your grandma and grampa played Monopoly," an article starts in the January 26, 1936 issue of the Washington Evening Star. "It isn't new."
The article tells the story of how Magie patented the Landlord's Game in 1904 as a teaching tool for Georgian economics.
But just two months before this article was published, Parker Brothers had wisely inked a deal with Magie to avoid a scandal, which Magie signed in hopes that the game company would promote her work as much as they did Monopoly.
Parker Brothers printed a modified version of the Landlord's Game in 1939, with Magie's face on the cover, along with two more of her games, but "there's little evidence they were ever seriously marketed," Pilon says.
Pilon tells us that the 1940 Census lists Magie's occupation as "Maker of games" with an income of "$0.00." She died in 1948.
Though the real story behind Monopoly has always been out there, and was well-known in the board game community since the court confirmed the research Anspach did in the '70s, but Pilon says that before she started her book, there was widespread false information spread across the Internet. She thinks part of it was the original Darrow story just sounded better.
"I think that when we think about innovation and how things are made," Pilon says, "we love lightbulb stories because they're romantic, they're beautiful, they're Cinderella stories. But the truth is when things are made it's often a collaborative effort with lots of product testing — it's way more complicated. And we don't think to question origin stories."
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