This has nothing to do with horror. A friend passed this on to me a few days ago and I thought I would share:

The Woman-Identified Woman

any thoughts?

Women in Horror Films

The women we see in horror films, tend to be pathetic in some sense. They don't stand up for themselves, unless they have to kill to survive, and are in some ways used as objects to get the attention of the viewer. This is why I would like to bring up Rob Zombie's creations: "House of 1000 Corpses" and "The Devil's Rejects"

Yes there are women who are victims in these movies, but they have no way to survive if they come into contact with the main killers, which two of them are women, who I personally can't take my eyes off of when I watch these films. Their roles in these films are fascinating, and one of them is Rob Zombie's wife, which makes it even more interesting.

Here are links to different clips of "House of 1000 Corpses" and "The Devil's Rejects" on youtube.

http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=house+of+1000+corpses&aq=0

http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=the+devils+rejects&aq=f

Faux-feminism and Horror films

This article is part of a horror series Bitch is doing. Seems worthy of discussion.

NOTE: to create a live link, simply click on the link symbol and paste the URL into the box.

Bring on the New Female Survivor

As the essay “Final Girl,” as well as the ending of several horror films illustrate, the cliché of a specific kind of female survivor is alive and well. Considering the postmodern attitude which now [and has been] affecting the creative inventors of art, music and film in our culture, I’m quite surprised that someone has not written a female role which crushes that stereotype. If done correctly, this notion doesn’t have to be over-the-top or even pseudo comical; rather, the role would be serious, confusing, and as I think, I huge hit amongst horror fans.

It would be a huge hit because it would be confusing and it would make the audience think a little about it after they had left the theatre. They’d ask questions like- “wait, she was hooking up with some guy in the beginning, why did she survive in the end?” It would be a pretty big deal, I think.

Imagine a female lead that stays true to her hormonal impulses while still sensing that something is wrong and ultimately slays the monster and survives in the end. I don’t yet understand why this kind of woman is not portrayed as the powerful survivor.

Last House on the Left opinion

Okay, I know I'm going to come under some heavy flack for this, but The Last House on the Left left me...unperturbed. Yes, it was horrible and the drool of the man as he held his face way too close to the girl was a very bold move to make, but overall I was not really disgusted or upset at what was happenening. Most likely this is just because I've been kind of desensitized for some reason, but I can completely understand how moviegoers at the time would have been shocked to suddenly see that happening on the screen.

Also, afterwards when the girl went into the river, she went walking in so deep that I thought she was going to drown herself, until the guys shot her. Had she still lived after her raping, I wonder if she would have eventually tried to commit suicide...or would that have gone way too far for audiences to take?

D.I.Y Foreign Aid Revolution

Here is an awesome article in last Sundays NYT. It doesn't have anything to do with horror but it is something positive happening for women.

It's a great example of women helping women and I loved reading it.

Enjoy!

Final thoughts on "Final Girl"

I found this article to be kind of funny. It's so ridiculous to me how women are portrayed in horror flicks. Coincidentally, I had never seen any of the horror movies that they talked about but one that came to mind from my adolescence was "I Know What You Did Last Summer". The plot of this movie is victim to the "Final Girl" archetype. Jennifer Love Hewitt plays "Julie" who is amongst several of her friends that are being stalked and subsequently murdered by an unknown killer.

All of the friends die off and the end of the film nears and you think she will be the survivor. But- within the last 5 minutes we are lucky enough to witness her being attacked in the shower and her scream fades off as the movie ends. I can't stand horror movies for this reason- not only do they make women out to be total victims but they make them look stupid and vulnerable every time.

I too also notice the violent imagery that is used towards women in horror films as the article depicted. When ever a man in a horror movie is faced with a similar horrific fate- it is rarely shown and if it is it is not all that sexualized, gruesome or otherwise disturbing (other then the fact the man is murdered- it is not done in any unique way and he usually dies fighting for life). It is hard for me to watch rape scenes or scenes in which a male is dominating a woman as he kills her. It is suggestive and rude and provocative- and especially daunting because men are never dominated in horror films by women to be killed (not that it would make it better- but at least there would be some equality to the plot thus offering more insight?)

Another interesting horror movie from my adolescence was "What Lies Beneath" Michelle Phifer plays a strong woman who investigates into suspicions of her husbands infidelity. She soon finds out that he killed the woman he was having an affair with and her ghost was coming back to invade Michelle Phifers body and act out her aggression from the grave. However, the ghost that invades Michelle Phifer has to be totally hot, sexy and seductive- that's the only thing that would make for great ratings right? So offensive. A lot of the scenes take place around water- bath tub, shower, lake. Additionally, color plays a large role. Red is used to symbolize the ghosts anger and vengence. I suppose the movie was well done- but the gender implications are ridiculous. However, Michelle Phifer ISN'T the "Final Girl"- she lives, husband dies and the ghost is put to rest after her soul can be released through the truth.

In both "I Know What You Did Last Summer" and "What Lies Beneath" the women are physically weak- leaving them defenseless in that regard and they are just never quick enough. Not quick enough to grab the phone, not clever enough to run away... etc. The female character always has lessons that should have been taught and the audience often finds themselves yelling at the screen to direct this poor female to saving her own life. Very interesting.

The Celluloid Closet

Watching the documentary in class gave me a greater insight into how many films have been made over the last century featuring LGBTQ individuals, couples and themes. Prior to watching this documentary, I would have thought and spoken about how Gay characters are rarely portrayed in film and didn't appear until at least the 1980's. I am happy to be cleared of my ignorance.

Even some of the films in that were spoken about in the documentary that I have seen I never caught that they were Gay characters- I'm still pondering if this was an intentional part on the director or if I was too young to understand. However, it retrospect, and after watching this documentary, it is amazing to see how film has evolved to accept a more positive slant towards Gay characters. The article points out "Academic queer film studies now finds itself in the sometimes awkward position of responding both to a need to continue to professionalize its work as well as to wrestle with the changing state of the market, which is now utterly different than it was a decade ago, never mind three decades."This makes me realize how much society has changed even since I was a kid about accepting all sexual orientations- or at least having more compassion and less hatred.

I can recognize how hard it is to make a piece of film or television (like Brokeback Mountain or Will and Grace) with Gay and Lesbian characters that is taken seriously. Now it is more accepted to have these characters on screen but it is still the brunt of many jokes. Will the climate change? I always think of RENT as being a revolutionary film for its time. Granted, it had the play to capture audiences and get them more comfortable prior to the film release. And although it generally appeals to a niche crowd of individuals who like musicals- it really expanded it's audience and many people who would not normally watch musicals or films with LGBTQ characters the topic of AIDS brought curious communities together to watch the movie. It had a positive response and the music got pretty popular outside the film.

I am not confident after reading the article and watching the movie that things will change immensely in the next decade. I think audiences will not accept sex scenes between Gay lovers or movies all about the Gay community. I think for a long time those movies will only appeal to niche audiences and it will be difficult to get them on the big screen.

Magazine Cover Of The Year

I LOVED the Clint Eastwood cover for GQ. I remember seeing it on shelves and in peoples homes for quite a while. GQ has a history of putting young, attractive, "flavor of the week" men on the cover. For them to recognize Clint Eastwood and put him as he is- rough and wrinkly and in a casual denim drab (which I'm sure is his regular attire) was perfect.

The most obvious controversial piece was clearly Obama on New York magazines cover. When ever I see strong images like this out on the stands a part of me feels happy. I love that we live in a society where these things are not only accepted but respected. A very well respected magazine can put this out, maintain their notoriety, prestige and popularity. This in fact, helps them even more. It is also done with a lot of artistry which I like visually.

I hate Sports Illustrated swim suit models and I hate seeing young women on the covers. Brooke Decker has so much life to live and she has started her career by using her body. What kind of message does this send to young girls? What about young boys? Why? Why? I just wish I could open that magazine and at least hear about all the great things she is doing- but when I wiki-ed her- I didn't come up with much.

Gender Representation in Tobacco and Alcohol Advertising

I know I am posting this late. However, I think its better late than never to give my opinion. Here are some quotes that I picked out that triggered a few thoughts in me:

"When we are sold these products, we are sold these models of lifestyle"
I thought this was a fascinating interpretation of how we pick out a specific brand of a product because of the way we correlate it to our own lifestyle. I never gave this much thought- but I am a total sucker for this. I have always only bought Dawn soap because on the bottle it says that they use the soap to clean animals that have been affected by oil spills. I've never done research to find out of this is true- but it touches to my humanitarian heart and for some reason my body jumps to that bottle, even if it holds no truth in actuality.

"since their effect is to teach children how to be as adults, to suggest to adults how to be hip, and to show seniors how hip they once were and could still be"
This scares me because of how sexualized the advertisements really are. Not only will girls start smoking or drinking because they think it will make them popular but they also think it will make them sexy. It can then be difficult for young girls to imagine being sexy without being under the influence of any drug or alcohol.

"However, a third group exists between the first two: couples. Whether it be between the placement of two glasses of scotch on the rocks next to an open bottle, or by the gaze of a bachelor at an available young woman, couples could be expressed through the suggestion of inanimate objects or by the straightfoward depiction of courtship (at its most romantic and transparent)."
I NEVER noticed this. To be honest, I rarely see advertisements for cigarettes and alcohol. It's almost as if I have to look for them. Also, since this is not a product I'm interested in I may not see them. This again sends a message to young women and men that this is a very good hobby to engage in with significant others. It may be hard to change this schema once it is embedded.

"Virginia Slims puts a premium on appearance. Slim or thick cigarettes don't change the tobacco content, taste, appetite suppression, or nicotine content, they just change the shape. For both sexes, the cigarette can be considered an extension of the body (women's are slim, men's are stocky) or a representation of the phallus (women having penis envy or desire, men exposing their phallus/masculinity through the gesture of smoking)."
This is a genius advertising trick. Stupid and silly and I hate that it is effective but I believe it truly is. I knew many young women in high school who would only smoke these- it helped them portray a heightened sense of femininity and class. It set them apart from the "trashy" girl smokers who were smoking Marlboro or Camels. Madalyn has mentioned that she thinks it would be a wise advertising tactic to make condoms that were appealing to women- in feminine colors and shapes with clever slogans. I always thought that is a genius idea and its curious to me that more companies don't do this more often. It perpetuates our hetero-normative culture- which is why I would go CRAZY if there was more gender specific products but from a money making standpoint- companies are crazy not to take advantage.

I also never thought about all of these phallic symbols we have been mentioning in class and in the readings. It scares me that I have been potentially missing all of these messages and just absorbing them. Gross.

Last House on the Left

Watching The Last House on the Left I couldn’t believe how casual the killers were about everything. The decision to go find girls was spontaneous and relaxed, to the point where I didn’t realize they were planning to rape and kill. I just assumed they wanted to find girls to party and sleep with (consensually of course).

The scene where the girls are raped and killed is chilling. The killers are so methodical in their actions that it leaves the viewer numb. They molest her than slowly follow her as she stumbles down to the water, where they finally finish with shooting her full of bullets.

Though the scene isn’t the overwhelmingly gory as many horror films are, it is just as disturbing if not more so. Between the unaffected attitudes of the people, the lightheartedness of the music, and the sunshine filled scenery of the woods in morning, the entire scene managed to pervert the calm of nature. It seemed unnatural and disturbing.

The W.I.T.C.H. es: radical for their time

For those interested in the Women's International Terrorist Conspiracy from Hell, here are some photos from 1969. There are also some wonderful images and information on feminist scholar Jo Freeman's blog.

The movement was fairly short-lived, only in existence from 1968 to 1970. Other acronym combinations included "Women Inspired to Tell their Collective History" and "Women Interested in Toppling Consumer Holidays."

Repost: Presentation Guidelines

Please bring with you to class on Monday, October 18th, a one-paragraph proposal for your in-class presentations, which we will begin presenting in November. The proposal need not detail every aspect of the presentation, but should give a brief description of your topic and the method of presentation, as well as your proposed method of preparation.

The guidelines for the presentation are as follows:

1. It must be no longer than ten minutes.
2. You may use any format (lecture, slides, media, art, performance, etc.) but must involve some form of oral/spoken presentation.
3. Your topic must connect three different aspects: women's and/or gender studies, media (print, visual, broadcast, art, internet, etc.), and popular culture.
4. A separate (not presented) summary of your presentation and/or your creative process and research, no longer than one page, must accompany your presentation and be handed in the same day.
5. Presentations will be graded on Content, Preparation and Execution.

Tips:
1. Be creative! Approach this with an open mind and strive for originality.
2. This represents a fairly major portion of your grade, and should reflect some considerable thought and effort.
3. Choose a topic that is personally important to you and what you hope to understand via this course.

Response to The FInal GIrl Article

I’m slightly on the fence as to whether or not the “Final Girl” is an excuse, but I think I’m inclined to agree that it is. The article was pretty convincing in stating that it is, but even if it is I don’t think I really have a problem with that.

Honestly, I feel like its pretty much understood that most horror films are geared towards a male audience. Most women seem to get this concept and those who do are perfectly capable of making up their own minds as to whether or not they will go to see a film. For some reason horror films seem to favor a female heroine who survives to the end. I’m not sure whether this is because of the need for justification or some other reason. However, the need for justice seems a good reason to me.

Personally, I equally enjoy having either a hero/heroine in the end of a film; it doesn’t bother me either way. However, if it does bother some women that there is a final woman standing, then I’m willing to try and understand this. The article suggests that the woman may survive to the end, but in the process she takes on the characteristics of a man. Through the use of phallic devices the women seems to become more masculine in the end. Here I can understand a woman being upset.

The scene in The Texas Chainsaw Massacre where the heroine takes control of the chainsaw, the chainsaw can be construed as a phallic symbol. In this case, a woman getting angry is justified. There is no need for the heroine to become a man, but I don’t think that her standing up for herself necessarily means she’s acting like a man. If the sexual innuendo with the chainsaw, and other such objects, were dropped I don’t think I’d be able to find anything really worth complaining about in horror films.

Review of GINGER SNAPS

A very interesting post-feminism horror film, GINGER SNAPS has received a great deal of critical acclaim from horror critics, and has something of a cult following, Here is a review that explores its feminist themes with some close shot analysis and discussion of genre from a scholarly perspective. The film is described as an apt example of the "body horror" sub-genre, and offers some discussion of the concept of "feminist teratology" (referring to beings or types which deviate from the norm; in most contexts, beings seen as "monstrous") which is a term coined by feminist scholar Patricia McCormack in this article.

Confused about FINAL GIRL

I understand the concept of Final Girl and the research behind it.

What I do not understand is why the Final Girl has to be a pure, beautiful, yet masculine woman?!
I guess what I am saying kind of goes with Madalyn's post below. Whore or pure? beautiful or ugly? Why can't she be normal looking and enjoy sex? Does it freak men out that women enjoy sex? Is that why the final girl has to be a virgin? So men won't run out of the theater screaming "not only is this woman powerful and killed the psycho, she also has a powerful vagina!"

Do women really like these kind of horror movies? Movies that tell us "well, if you have had sex with multiple men then you have it coming to you!"

GAH...any input?

The Celluloid Closet

I am thankful in a way that you decided to show us the Celluloid Closet. To be honest, I was (still am) extremely ignorant about LGBTQ coding in movies. I never thought that they were very few mainstream movies that address gender identity because I didn't think to look for gender identity while watching films. I'm happy to say that this film and the reading of the article "Changing the Nature of Queer Film Criticism" has shed some light on me.

These were a few things that struck me:

1) Who knew that prior to the 1950's, the LGBTQ community was shown in comical way. I felt outraged that audiences would laugh and make fun of gay men with high voices and feminine gestures. Why are gay men always shown as so flamboyant? Why are lesbian women shown as either butch or sexy?

2) The dying gay person. WHY HOLLYWOOD? WHY? I feel incredibly stupid that I never noticed this in films. Since the late 60's and early 70's until today, the queer always dies at the end of the movie. Is this supposed to show society's outrage towards the LGBTQ community? Is it realistic? Why are they still dying at the end of films? Tom Hanks dies in Philadelphia (early 90's) and Jake Gyllengaal's character, Jack, from Brokeback Mountain is beaten to death.

Does this show society that we have come a long way? Or is this showing society that nothing will change?

I'd like to think that these films show society how far we have evolved from the past, but I am waiting for a movie where there is a "happy" ending.

Women and Horror Films

I found this article online. I found it interesting since it talks about women and horror films and why women might not like them or which ones they would prefer. I was just wondering what other people might think about this article.

The Final Girl

The final girl, is not a whore, is not after sex, but is a woman who must take on male traits to survive in the end. The final girl must be able to kick ass when needed, or in other terms be smart and know what to do to save herself and not run around helplessly in her underwear.

In the article "Is the final girl an excuse," it mentions that all the other girls leading up to the final girl are in a sense whores and the final one is a woman, who MEN can relate to. As we watch a horror or slasher film, girls are getting killed left and right, but then there is the "final girl," the one who manages to stay alive. MEN in the audience root for her because she has to take on masculine qualities to survive, like using a chainsaw or an axe or setting traps, and MEN like this because they can relate to it. Of course the women aren't shown as being smart or clever, they are shown as being masculine.

How can women respect themselves or except men to respect them if movies are saying, if you look good, you must be a whore then, and you will be killed off at some point, and if you look good and have a brain, you will be seen as stupid at first, but will survive in the end, only because you had to act like a guy?

Spiritual Warfare

I found this article very interesting beecause when I first saw the Blair Witch Project, I thought it was one of the worst movies I had seen, but after reading the article I have come to appreciate the movie. The article mentioned how Disney might have played a role in influencing the public's ideas of what a witch and I found this fascinating. The witches in disney are old women who are out to hurt and stop the young and innocent girl from being with prince charming. Is this how we should come to see and understand what witches are as we grow up? The Blair Witch Project in a sense crushed the witches of Disney and showed everyone that a witch is not just a fictional character, and is not just a old hag, but maybe a woman who believes in witchcraft and just wants to be left alone.

Another thing that caught my attention in this article was the part about Heather and the two men she was with. Since she was in the authoritarian role, the other men felt powerless, so it was interesting to read about the power and control issues that occured, because when I first saw this movie I never would have thought about that, but it makes sense. The video camera could be seen as Heather's tool of power, she was the one videotaping, she was the one in control, and the men hated it. But who would expect anything else? A woman in charge... this couldn't happen? She must be the one to blame then for all the trouble that arises then, right? There are a lot of movies where the man is in charge, so it is nice to know that "The Blair Witch Project" has a women in charge for the majority of it, but it still is sad that our society (men) see this as wrong.

Will We Ever Escape the Either/Or?

As I was reading the article “The Final Girl,” I couldn’t help but see a greater paradigm at work; that is, the ‘Either/Or.’ Throughout history and to this day, a woman is labeled as either one extreme or the other, a this [whore, temptress] or a that [virgin, prude]. A girl can be either a Mary or an Eve, a morally pure person or a morally corrupted whore. This paradigm sets up a false dilemma by using extreme standards that a girl must either be one way or its complete opposite, and nothing in between.

It is clear that the portrayal of women in horror films fits this paradigm quite comfortably. A woman is either the whore who gets killed in the film, or the morally sound ‘Final Girl’ who prevails against the killer by attaining male-like qualities.

Great. Not only does this paradigm exist in nearly every social judgment made towards women, i.e. their weight or appearance, but it’s also found to exist in horror films. Why are we still so attracted as a culture to that model of judgment which has continued to exist for so many centuries? Will we, as women, ever be able to escape it?

The Celluloid Closet

My first thoughts about the film were annoyed: why so much with the men? Why why why do gay men get all the attention? I realize that it's because of how society views men and women in general, of course. It's okay for two women to live together, to hold hands and cuddle. That doesn't make them any less feminine; it may make them less feminine. And lesbian sex involves--I don't know if you guys are aware of this--four breasts. Yes. It's true. Gay male sex, meanwhile, involves two penises, which are widely acknowledged to be less sexy and interesting (I've had more than one gay guy ask if he can play with my boobs, because they're just fun). In addition, there's an assumption that two chicks can't do anything in bed that isn't fairly standard for a hetero couple, while two guys, well, we know what THEY do, and it's *dirty*. Even though millions of straight couples--and lesbians--have anal sex, it's still viewed as dirty (both morally and literally). So there's that. Gay men have sex that is viewed as gross, and seeing them even in asexual context is a reminder of their gross sex. Lesbians, on the other hand, did I mention the four boobs?

In addition, of course, it's easier for a straight woman to "act gay"--to be a tomboy, to have short hair, etc, without being called gay. A straight man, on the other hand, cannot wear makeup and tight pants and be, oh, swishy, without being called gay. Hence, perhaps the lesbians represented in film are simply more subtle. I would like to note here that I've read Rebecca several times, and seen the movie, and I've always read Mrs. Danvers as simply a creepy, obsessed servent, an archetype all its own. It never seemed to me that she had any romantic or sexual feelings toward Rebecca.

I was really intrigued by the "sissy" character. I've been watching Running Wilde, a new TV show from the creator of Arrested Development (one of the greatest shows of all time) which will soon be cancelled because it kind of sucks, and the sort of butler character is very much a sissy. Exaggerated to the point that I'm amazed gay rights groups haven't protested. It's fascinating that that trope is still being used today. I also just watched the pilot of My So-Called Life and found a similar character, although he is acknowledged as being "bi" (in quotation marks because that's the term they use).

It was interesting to see how things have changed. Gay movies still have sad endings (Brokeback Mountain, anyone?), but have also in many ways broken into the mainstream (Brokeback Mountain, anyone?), but also can inspire things like theaters being harassed, bricks thrown at posters (Brokeback Mountain, anyone?). I can think of several gay movies, however, that don't have sad endings, don't have caricatures, treat gays as "normal". Imagine Me & You is one of my favorites for how it completely doesn't care that the women are gay; D.E.B.S. is another great one. Rent does have sad gay characters, but also sad straight ones.

I'm rambling a bit, but my point is: the celluloid closet has gotten bigger and smaller over time, and in the last few years we've seen enormous progress with it. Let's hope that continues.

The Celluloid Closet

Watching this film, The Celluloid Closet, was difficult for me. I hadn’t seen the vast majority of titles that were discussed and if I had seen any, it was only one or two from the list. So, I had trouble understanding the context of many of the scenes that they showed.

However, it was able to point out aspects of movies that I had never noticed. It hadn’t really occurred to me before that the gay characters in earlier movies tended to be killed off and/or be the villain. As the film was discussing this consistency, I was sitting there wondering how I managed to not notice this in the old films. After all, it’s seen in so many of them.

Something else that I grabbed my attention in the movie was the way directors were able to make two films in one. One of the directors shown in The Celluloid Closet explained how scenes had to be manipulated in order to send both the message that the producers wanted, along with the more discreet gay/lesbian undertones. It was very impressive how they were able to slide these scenes past those who edited the films. Learning about this gave me an increased respect for the intellect and cunning of those directors and actors who managed to show double meanings in their scenes.

Female Character Flowchart

This has been circling the feminist blogosphere; I know I read commentary on it on Jezebel and Sociological Images, but it's originally from Overthinking It ("where we subject the popular culture to a level of scrutiny it probably doesn't deserve"). I'm not sure if you'll be able to click to enlarge here, but you definitely can from those posts (and, once enlarged, go over it with a magnifying glass):

Best blogs for women's rights issues

This list is fantastic and I think pretty comprehensive. I already read a bunch of these and will be adding several more to Google Reader: 50 Best Blogs for Following Women’s Rights Issues. For what it's worth, a few favorites:

• Sociological Images is one of the most influential blogs I've ever read
• My Fault, I'm Female cracks me up and infuriates me
• Hollaback is one I'm new to, thanks to the Women's Initiative, but highly recommend if you're disturbed by/sick of street harassment
• Women & Hollywood may be especially pertinent to this class.

I would add, too:

• fbomb, which is done by teenage girls
• Bitch blogs, from Bitch magazine
• The Feminist Agenda, which doesn't update as much as some but is still interesting
• The Hathor Legacy, which "searches for good female characters in TV, books, movies, comics and other media"
• and, a little controversially, Jezebel, which has more pop culture, is less into feminist theory, and frequently fights with Feministing (which is also fantastic)

Anyone else got anything?

Yes, "The Final Girl" IS an excuse.

The article "Is the Final Girl an Excuse" explores the author's interpretation of why many male-directed horror films have lone female survivors at the end of the film. As noted in the article, these "final girls" are often initially "morally pure," intelligent, cowardly, etc. with androgynous names that transform into horror-kicking aggressive heroines in order to stop the villianous figure. For instance, in the film Buffy the Vampires Slayer (which I first saw over the summer, and is in fact a parody of the horror genre of sorts), Buffy is the sterotypical dumb blonde cheerleader only concerned with fashion and boys. However, when she's confronted with her destiny, she undergoes an extensive training regimen and actively seeks out the vampires with her newly gained martial arts skills. Again, although Buffy is not a true example of what a 'final girl' is, her qualities and transformation are typical of what a final girl will go through (minus the training sequence).

After going through two case studies and analyzing why males might identifying with the Final Girl, the author assumes that males enjoy rooting for the Final Girls because those girls are not whores, they act more like men, which consequently makes it okay for the men to do whatever while the whores are being tortured and not feel guilty because "not all women are like that." I have to say that I agree with the author's point of view, that the Final Girl's only true purpose is to tell men that it's okay to masturbate or fantasize about raping/killing a whore, because she's a whore. She's not a REAL woman like X (the final girl). How does this frame of mind carry over into real life? Is this one of the reasons why men will sexually assualt a woman at a party and not call it rape, because 'she dressed like a whore and was drunk so she was asking for it?' Is that why many men will assume that teenage girls that dress a certain way must be sluts because they show so much skin? Ultimately I think there is more to the Final Girl thing than was discussed, because if men are taught that it's okay to fantasize about the whores in horror movies, that acceptance has to carry over in real life somehow.

Spiritual Warfare response

The first line in "Spiritual Warfare" that ironically caught my attention was "thus the female gaze has come to be associated with witchlike female monstrosity and female power simultaneously." Generally in my experience I have found this to be true; in films and television shows, the episodes where the hot new female character sensually gazes at whichever male character usually results in some sort of mind control afterward, or at least some time of "you'll do this for me, right?" For instance, in an early episode of Gilligan's Island, Ginger (the movie star) wanted Gilligan to build her a hut, since they had just recently been marooned on the island. However, Gilligan and the men currently possessed the tools, so Ginger used her sex appeal and heavy gaze at Gilligan to make Gilligan willingly surrender all of the tools and offer his assistance.

Second, when discussing how '90s witchcraft came to be associated with lesbianism with Buffy the Vampire Slayer, the article noted that "even Sabrina’s aunts were configured as lesbian parents, despite occasional dates and boyfriends, note Sarah Projansky and Leah Vande Berg." That...is something I had never thought of before. While watching the show (and this could have just been my age at the time also being a factor), I never thought of Aunts Hilda and Zelda as trying to represent a lesbian couple. Yes, each was independent and hardly needed a man's help in solving an issue, but I guess the fact that both wanted to raise Sabrina without a stable father influence would have seemed odd for some. I wonder though, if that is what the creators of the show were going for when they started the series. On some further research though, I now know that the Sabrina series was originally a 1960s comic strip in the Archie comics, but was 'reinvented' for TV in the 90s sitcom. Another interesting little factoid is that the Sabrina movie and sitcom came out in 1996, while The Blair Witch project aired in 1999. Thus, Sabrian slightly predated "the sisterhood" that came to be in the late 90s as witchcraft came in style again.

I found the analysis of the character Heather and the two men she was filming with quite interesting, although a bit confusing since I have not seen the film The Blair Witch Project. Regardless, it made enough sense for me to understand the power strugle and what this represented in regards to the article (the female taking control of power in a usually male dominated realm and the 'consequences' that come with it, etc.)

"The Forgotten Majority" Women and Their [Lack of] Retirement Planning

This article, “The Forgotten Majority: Why Women Get a Raw Deal on Retirement,” appeared in Smart Money Magazine and I thought it would be of interest for everyone to check out. Although I normally avoid finance magazines like the plague, this article was on the cover and it really caught my attention. It discusses the reasons why women typically have much less money saved for retirement than do men and the resulting problems it creates for women in the long run. It’s an extremely informative article and I really encourage everyone to read and comment on it!

Reminders!

Remember to read the Linda Badley article "Spiritual Warfare" on The Blair Witch Project for next week; it is linked on Blackboard.

I also assigned the article on film criticism and homosexuality by Michael Bronski for reading this past week; feel free to apply points from that article to your discussion of The Celluloid Closet. This is linked on the blog.

Also, some new reading for the next two weeks, as we'll be discussing genre: "Is the Final Girl An Excuse?" is an essay on the horror genre and some of the more prominent feminist theories on this genre, from the website "Cinema de Merde." Please look this over for next week. (It's also linked on Blackboard and the blog resource sidebar).

EVERYONE is expected to post to the blog and take part in discussions. Lately I have noticed very few of you are doing this with any regularity.

Also, the rewrites of the collage summaries are due yesterday, as in, as soon as possible. I have only received two so far.

The work requirements of this course are fairly minimal; please try to stay on top of them.

The Relationship between Film and Culture

The documentary The Celluloid Closet was extremely successful at capturing the various cultural attitudes on the portrayal of gay and lesbian relationships in film. Watching the documentary was not only interesting but also educational, as I haven’t had much exposure to the topic in general. The particular issue in the documentary which really struck my attention and my consideration, however, was the relationship between the end of a film and the societal norm it represented.

To be more specific, the pattern of suicide at the end of a film is an example of this relationship. As the several screenwriters, actresses, actors and directors explained, a gay or lesbian relationship was socially unacceptable. This, in turn, left the characters in the film subjected to feelings of “dirtiness,” guilt, self-loathing, confusion and severe depression after engaging in these relationships. These feelings acted as the catalysts to the common ending of the gay or lesbian character being killed at the end of the film, from either suicide or murder. However, my question is which came first? Were the movies only illustrating an ending which was already socially known or accepted? Or did the films play more of a role in dictating the opinion which society should have on gay and lesbian relationships?

Though I am hesitant to give the film industry that much power in its ability to sway its audience, I do think that the study of these issues through film is important for that reason. If the film was merely mirroring a social norm, how can its message be powerful? On the other hand, if the films were affecting the opinions of the public, why were their messages on the subject of gay and lesbian relationships so negative, unacceptable and unforgiving in the first place?

In The Celluloid Closet

After watching this documentary, I couldn't help think how pathetic our nation can be when it comes to certain topics, especially homosexuality. The documentary really gave me a new perspective on how coded homosexuality had to be because of the entertainment industry and because our nation didn't want to see it for what it really was.

One thing that really caught my attention was how homosexuals were portrayed in the movies once they were allowed to be in movies. At first they were seen as the villan, as being something evil that needed to be punished or killed. Then they were seen as the victim, some sort of pray. However, they were still seen as being different, outcasts from the normal society. Their sexuality wasn't the norm. Going along with this there were movies portraying the idea that seeming gay was just as bad as being gay and a person's "gayness" needed to be cured, and apparently masculinity was the answer.

I was trying to think of movies I've seen that have gay coding in them or movies that had homosexuality in them and I had a hard time thinking of movies. The first one I could think of was Rent, which shows more openly gay individuals, but it is a fascinating movie because it shows people accepting homosexuality while trying to survive AIDS. There is another movie that I remember watching that deals with homosexuality and young men acknowledging and accepting their homosexuality, but I can't remember what the title of the movie is. Once I do I'll put up a post with the title and a website to more information about the movie because it really gave me a new perspective on young men and homosexuality.

Gender Representation in Tobacco/Alochol Advertising

I found the above article to be very interesting. The essence of the essay is in the beginning line "The lie of advertising is that we do not experience the same pleasure suggested in their images when we use the product." It's such a simple, obvious sentence, but it still makes the point that people buy products because they want to experience the same effects as in the ad: a peaceful, easy or exciting, sexy lifestyle. Will the boys fall for me if I wear this perfume? Will my life be that much easier with the Shamwow? Clearly, with the alochol and tobacco focus, those two types of advertising are particularly guilty of emitting a sense of enticing pleasure, nostalgia or hopes.

I will admit that I am not as familiar with this type of advertising (ads for alochol or tobacco), but throughout my life the cultural perceptions have been that wine and whatnot is more sophisticated than plain old beer, but for beer Budweiser is...well, the king. Or that cute set of toads in a pond.

I found the author's mention on the four groupings for this ad to be intriguing as well. I had not considered couples, nor "the Others" (immigrants, other ethnicities and minorities) as a separate group from men and women. Yet it does make sense, that a single man would have to be marketed at differently than a typical heterosexual couple in an established relationship. And why are the Others depicted as exotic or degrading? If minorities are rising in the U.S. population and the white majority will soon be the minority, shouldn't this aspect of the advertising change?

Here we come now to the complaint department: I had no idea that nictoine was an appetite suppressant, so I would have to say that no, most girls that I know of would never dream of smoking to become thinner, or to look cool. I could be wrong, but I think my generation is past the "smoking is cool" idea that other generations went through, simply because the number of commercials and product placements for smoking is far less. On our prime time sitcoms, yes, characters may smoke, but they won't give product placement during the commercial breaks like many 1950s sitcoms did.

Finally, one question I had was why the Surgeon General's warning was shown multiple times throughout the text. Were there supposed to be pictures and ads there?

From the Celluloid Closet response

I found the From the Celluloid Closet documentary to be extremely enlightening and entertaining to watch. Never had I thought the old 1920s and 30s films would have this undertone or outright gay/lesbian characters and actions. I had always assumed that the censorship committees had prevented such a thing from the very beginning, but it makes sense that as the 1940s came around, males or females kissing on the screen would have seemed appalling for certain members of the public.

I did manage to think of some examples where issues such as those discussed in the movie came up, but many (The Color Purple, Philadelphia, Mrs. Doubtfire) were already mentioned in the documentary. I was immediately reminded though of the recent film I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry, in which the two main firefighter characters pretend to be a gay couple in order to gain some monetary benefits from the government (I only saw this movie once). However, this greedy proposition quickly turned into an activist movie in which the two firefighters inspire other men they know into coming out of the closet, while questioning the public as to why people who are the same sex cannot love each other.

Another show I thought of that explored some homosexual issues was strangely enough the 1980s/90s sitcom, The Golden Girls. Several episodes featured gay or lesbian characters that Rose, Blanche, Dorothy and Sophia knew (or did not find out about until a particular episode). The two episodes that stood out clearly in my mind was one where Sophia is getting remarried to an old Brooklyn friend, and because Dorothy does not approve, Sophia locked herself in the bathroom. The openly gay (and "sissy") caterer marches into the room and snaps at everyone's indecisions. A very badly shot clip of this scene can be found on Youtube. Also, the other episode of The Golden Girls I thought of was when Rose becomes a TV producer for a local Miami station, and somehow the rest of the cast ends up on one of the television news shows as lesbian couples living together (which in turn makes the girl's lives very uncomfortable for awhile).

MAD MEN video

In this scene from the Season Four finale, Peggy and Joan try to figure out why they are still, despite all their hard work, treated like second-class citizens...

Thoughts?

Top Magazine Covers

The top magazine covers came by no suprise to me. With the top magazine having an image of the stars of Twilight, just shows that our society is going through a vampire craze I personally am hoping will end soon. Then there was the cover of this big burger that Texas must have been proud of. Yes it looks good and I am sure it made many people want to go get one after they saw that cover, but is a burger the best thing that Texas should be proud of?

I personally don't think that Marge on the cover of Playboy should have been recognized as one of the top magazine covers, but I understand why it was. Being able to link a show that has been around now for over 20 years that is enjoyed by many people, including families, to Playboy is huge. The cover might not have been that appealing with Marge just sitting in a Playboy chair, but the fact that a mother with two children and a husband is sitting in a Playboy chair makes a difference.

My favorite magazine cover I would have to say is the one with the fat Statue of Liberty. I personally just like the caption that is under it. "It's worse than you think. How to beat obesity." I just think this cover is showing one of the true sides of America and the caption fits in perfectly on how we view obesity. As a nation we are recognizing more and more people becoming obese and the rate of obesity in children is growing, yet not many people seem to be doing that much about it. Then we have all of these advertisements out there on how to lose weight, the perfect weightloss plan, the magic pill that will help you lose weight (but you still have to excersise), and then there is surgery. I'm not sure if we will ever be able to beat obesity, but the advertisement and drug companies are sure trying to get people to believe that losing weight is a lot easier than it appears.

Do we really need a vampire cover category?

Augh, someone please plunge a stake through my heart. All I needed was to read the first sentence to feel a little phlegm rise in the back of my throat. Like quite a few others, I am sick of the Twilight hype, so being told that the December 2009"Twilight" cover of Harper's Bazaar won best Magazine Cover of the Year made me die a little inside. It was also completly ridiculous that vampires needed their own category for the competition, but I thought that I should at least look at the cover. Maybe it really was worth the title. Or not. For being such a "romantic" cover, the two aren't even looking at each other. Robert Patterson is looking quite lovingly at the camera, while Kristen Stewart looks rather appalled and disgusted to me. Also, that her hand is haughtily placed on her hip further displays a look of disinterest. Furthermore, both are decked out in a chrome/black colored ensemble, so I cannot say they stand out in the picture. I don't know how this contest was conducted, but maybe that one parent's daughter had the cover on her room for so long because she's an avid "Team Edward" fan. I guess she never thought of that...

On the other hand, I do like the New Yorker cover with the butterfly hat. I do not know anything about Alexander McQueen or his apparent suicide, but I feel that the brightly colored butterflies against the charcoal, murky background draws the eye even close to the butterflies. Furthermore, this cover is so simply beautiful, that if I was familiar with this designer I'm sure I would have been somewhat emotional.

The Johhny Depp cover I found to be "meh." There is a charismatic gleam in Depp's eye, as if you just caught him in the middle of a moment of brilliance, and he wants to tell you about it. However, there is nothing new or special about this shot. It feels like I could go searching around on Facebook and find a few dozen of the same type of photo. The same goes for the National Geographic cover. A decade ago I had a purple mousepad with the same water caressed design, so for me it's nothing new. Does it look cool? Yeah, but not "Cover of the Year" worthy. Come on...there has to be better submissions than this!

Finally, I must say that I had read about the Marge Simpson Playboy cover, and to finally see it...it's interesting and note worthy, but nothing really eyecatching. I feel like the extremely purple background is trying to contrast with Marge's yellow skin tone, but I also think it's trying to compensate for the lack of...interest.

Year's Top Magazine Covers

The American Society of Magazine Editors voted on the top magazine covers of 2010. Look these over and offer your thoughts. Any surprises? Anything controversial? Any that didn't deserve such accolades? Which are your favorites?

Readings for October

The syllabus has been undated on Blackboard (you can download an updated version). The reading assignments for the next two weeks:

Please read Singh article, “ Gender Representation in Alcohol and Tobacco Advertising” (linked on blog resources sidebar and Blackboard Readings) this week, and before beginning the collage assignment. Advertising Collage Assignment will be due for Monday October 18 in class.

Also, reading due for October 18th: “From The Celluloid Closet to Brokeback Mountain: The Changing Nature of Queer Film Criticism” by Michael Bronski (linked on blog resources sidebar and Blackboard Readings).

Advertising Assignment

This assignment will be due in class Monday October 18th. It is composed of two parts: a collage, and a one-page analysis (typed). The process for the assignment is as follows:

Choose three contemporary print magazines or newspapers (not more than few months old). Peruse them for advertising and select a specific, focused theme that emerges that you'd like to base your collage on. Cut out or tear the ads (don't damage any library materials!) and glue them to a larger sheet of paper or cardboard. There is no limitation on size. Your theme may be written on your collage or not.

Be as specific as possible with your chosen theme: don't just address a general topic like "sexism in advertising" or "skinny adolescent females women in advertising." Allow your theme to be complex and related to your own interests. Obviously, your theme must be related to some aspect of women's and/or gender studies. Some example: "homoerotic imagery in clothing ads"; "juxtaposition of food and image obsession in advertising"; "alcohol advertising and rave culture"; "abundance of the color pink in ads geared towards teenage girls" etc.

Accompanying your collage should be a ONE page analysis of your process and findings. What magazines/newspapers did you look at before you chose your final three, what is the target demographic audience of the magazine/newspaper, how does advertising seem to function in general within the publication, are the ads related to nearby articles or topic sections, etc.

When analyzing the ads themselves, consider what drew your eye or interest as you narrowed down your theme and final selection of ads (feel free to bring in other ads that did not end up in your final collage). How did you decide on your final theme? What is significant or relevant about this theme to the study of gender? What implications for the ads have for this theme? Finally, feel free to explore your own emotional or intellectual responses that came up while doing this assignment.

Feel free to post any questions in the comments section.

Presentation Guidelines

Please bring with you to class on Monday, October 18th, a one-paragraph proposal for your in-class presentations, which we will begin presenting in November. The proposal need not detail every aspect of the presentation, but should give a brief description of your topic and the method of presentation, as well as your proposed method of preparation.

The guidelines for the presentation are as follows:

1. It must be no longer than ten minutes.
2. You may use any format (lecture, slides, media, art, performance, etc.) but must involve some form of oral/spoken presentation.
3. Your topic must connect three different aspects: women's and/or gender studies, media (print, visual, broadcast, art, internet, etc.), and popular culture.
4. A separate (not presented) summary of your presentation and/or your creative process and research, no longer than one page, must accompany your presentation and be handed in the same day.
5. Presentations will be graded on Content, Preparation and Execution.

Tips:
1. Be creative! Approach this with an open mind and strive for originality.
2. This represents a fairly major portion of your grade, and should reflect some considerable thought and effort.
3. Choose a topic that is personally important to you and what you hope to understand via this course.

Far From Heaven

Cathy and Frank seem to have the perfect 1950's relationship. They love each other and they love their kids, but when Cathy discovers Frank's affair with a man, everything begins to fall apart (or fall together?).

In my opinion, Far From Heaven is a very well done film. Todd Haynes, a movie director who is gay, told the story from the viewpoint of Cathy, the housewife, and not Frank, her gay husband. I thought that this was interesting because a man who has probably faced oppression because of his orientation decided to base the movie on the woman and how she is oppressed as a housewife and as an "supporter of the NAACP". There is one scene where the viewer sees Cathy as sexually oppressed; she tries to have sex with her husband and he denies her. Later on, the viewer can tell Cathy is upset by this when all of her friends are talking about how often their husbands want to have sex with them. As a supporter of the NAACP, Cathy finds other "white folk" constantly asking her questions as to why she supports "colored" people. Far From Heaven shows us the racism that was ongoing in the North instead of the South before the Civil Rights Movement. This is very unique - I don't believe I've seen other films that touch on racism from that time period in the North.

The director uses color beautifully to further show Cathy as a person, and the relationships around her. When Cathy is with her husband, she is usually wearing red or blue. In the party scene held at their house, Cathy is wearing red and it was done on purpose. Red signifies fire and passion, and if I were Cathy, I would want my friends to think I was in a very passionate, loving relationship with my husband. When Cathy wears blue around Frank, it shows her unending loyalty to him (even after she finds out he is gay). Surprisingly, blue also represents Heaven.

When Cathy first meets Raymond, she has a lavender colored scarf around her neck. Lavender tends to symbolize grace, elegance, and femininity. When Cathy's scarf blows off of her, it's as if she is loosing the grace and elegance of her high position as the "perfect wife" in the community, not to mention her womanhood. From that point forward, Cathy is looked down on by her neighbors, community, and even her best friend.

The Making of Far from Heaven

Wanted to share this. 12 minute short. "A retrospective comparison of the classic Douglas Sirk melodramas of the 1950s and this well-done homage by director Todd Haynes." Probably around somewhere online.

The Making of Far from Heaven

Gender and Advertising

This week and next, we'll be considering the role of advertising in popular culture and its portrayals of gender stereotypes and sexual politics. I've posted some new online articles and resources, including a very interesting piece on gender in tobacco and alcohol advertising. There are also bibliographies which list articles that can be found online or through the reference section of the library the reference librarians are equipped to help you find most anything listed here.

We'll be watching some clips from the AMC show Mad Men, which depicts a Madison Avenue advertising agency in the 1960s. This website lists a number of interesting articles on advertising.

This directory of vintage ads is particularly useful and fascinating. (Not all of the links are active; I will try to provide links to some recommended articles in the Resources sidebar.)

Shadows and dresses and hair oh my!

After reading "(Not) queering “white vision” in Far from Heaven and Transamerica", I really wanted to watch Transamerica, and finally managed to do so last night (thanks, iTunes). I won't talk about it, as that's not what this blog post is supposed to be about, but it was at the very least interesting.

My first observation with Far from Heaven, which I had seen previously (in an American Studies class), was that the scenes with Frank and Cathy are all dark. Even a shot of them and then a shot of different people in the same room, the former shot is much darker/dimmer. Some literal foreshadowing there. I also noticed something the BFI review picked up on:

Long shots transform the Whitakers' living room into a prison, confining Frank within the set design, plunging him into the shadows

In other words, Frank is kept in shadow and at a distance from us, and presumably from Cathy. And perhaps from himself; being gay (if he would even use that label; I won't assign it to him) in that era was extremely difficult. It wasn't legal, for one thing. Anti-miscegenation laws would be overturned well before anti-gay laws, and gay marriage still isn't legal. While Cathy's relationship with Raymond was taboo, it was not illegal, and would really have fewer repercussions than Frank being openly a man who has sex with men (MSM). He could lose his job for that (still can in most states), could have his children taken away, could be committed. Frank does not want to be like this; he wants to be normal, is willing to do anything to achieve that. He keeps his identity in the shadows and at arm's length from himself, too. Which is not unusual, of course; even today many, many people try to be or pretend to be straight before coming out, sometimes for years.

One of the things I found really fascinating about Cathy, and I mentioned this in class, is how very feminine she was. Her friends wore shorter, tighter outfits, even pants(!), but Cathy remained in the crinolined skirts and girdles that were on their way out of style. Was this just her personal preference? Was she trying to look more stereotypically womanly and thus sexy, hoping that pushing her breasts into tight bras would attract Frank?

And one more thing: the kids, or at least Janice, had red hair. Like their mother. Except Cathy didn't have red hair; she didn't have the same haircolor as Janice, and she certainly didn't have Julianne Moore's usual gorgeous, deep, flowing red. It was a more subdued strawberry blonde. Our attention is drawn to the fact that Janice looks like her mother. Are we to assume that her hair lightened as she grew older (which of course happens), or that she dyes it, or is this signaling something, perhaps a fading of her spirit (women do, we are told, define ourselves through our hair)? Ponder!

Far from Heaven is far from heaven

I would like to start off by saying that I really enjoyed this movie. There are several things related to color that I picked up on, but most of them were already mentioned in previous posts, so I will try to mention diifferent ones that I noticed.

One of the things I picked up on was the use of green in the scenes that seemed to be mysterious or not appropriate, like when Frank went into the gay bar and when Kathy and Raymond went to the restaurant. I also liked how these scenes were shot, along with several others that seemed to be mysterious. The angle in which they were shot caught my attention. instead of having the shot of the scene being straight on, the shot of the scene was tilted slightly, giving the viewer a different angle/perspective to view the scene. By doing this, these scenes stood out, were different from the rest of the scenes in the movie.

Another thing that I liked about this movie, that also caught my attention was the use of plants/flowers to represent life and death. One scene is when Kathy meets Raymond, and Kathy finds out her old gardner is dead, and his son Raymond will be taking over (life). This scene takes place around plants that I believe are mostly green (another mysterious scene). Then there is the scene when Kathy and Raymond are walking through the woods and Raymond gives her a certain type of plant that is rare (this is after she finds out her husband is gay, death of her love life and who she thought he was). This plant stays in the house for the rest of the movie, and shows no sign of it wilting or dying, which I think might represent the life that Kathy and Raymond are bound to have. Then there is the scene where Raymond tell's Kathy he is selling his business to move (death of his present life, to restart a new one). Then finally there is the last scene of the blossoming tree which could represent the new life of Raymond, Kathy, and Frank and the new lives they are going to live. This might be a far stretch, but there are many instances where there are plants and flowers involved in scenes, and I don't want to dismiss that.

Overall I thought this movie was well done, from the colors that were used to the portrayals of race and gender.

Color as Expression and Irony

After thinking over the film, Far From Heaven and reading the chapter on “Color”, it’s clear that the color functions in several different ways and encapsulates varies meanings as it does so. In a sense, the story is being told just as clearly through the colors that are displayed on the screen as it is through the characters’ dialogue. Beside the more obvious functions of the color, a symbol of season and change, I found there are two that particularly interested me in trying to analyze and understand the film as it uses color so intensely to tell its story.

The first is the use of color as a sense of expressionism. The colors Cathy wore in the film were usually different from that of her husband’s. While she wore a warm soft orange, he was dressed in dark deep blues and grays. However, the colors which Raymond wore more often than not matched those of Cathy’s; as he was usually presented in complementary greens and browns. I think this could be easily tied with the idea of expressionism in the sense that the colors represented what the characters were feeling, and Cathy and Raymond were able to relate to one another because their feelings were similar.

I also found the use of color so interesting because I think it functioned ironically and affected the general message and story pretty profoundly. The story itself is depressing, and I think that the use of the warm fall colors really softened the sadness of the film. It’s a great ironic contrast, and I think it works beautifully. Had the colors been darker I think that the film would have had such a more intensely negative feel to it that it almost wouldn’t have been enjoyable to watch from an audience point of view.

Overall, I really enjoyed the film because it really touched on so many different issues of race and gender. In particular, I found the last scene of the film, where Cathy stands lonely and completely abandoned by her male companions as well as female friends, to be extremely powerful and symbolic of the female role in that time period.

Colors in Far From Heaven

Overall, the movie was pretty good, I can’t say that it is my favorite or the best I’ve seen but it wasn’t bad. The colors in the movie were certainly a point that they went through great pains to stress. Three-color groupings that I focused on throughout the movie were the plain yellows, purple and natural autumn colors.

Maybe I’m wrong in thinking this, but whenever the (non- nature oriented) bright yellows were used in a scene, it seemed to be a symbol of that which is domestic. For example, the curtains, the tablecloth and the maids dress were all yellow. Honestly this could have meant nothing, but in the beginning of the movie there is a scene where Cathy is standing outside her house with a group of her friends and the most eye-catching part of the house at that point was the bright yellow curtains, which to me began to represent the house and home, especially when it was reinforced by the maid always wearing yellow.

The natural autumn colors; more than anything these colors and even nature itself seemed to represent the gardener Raymond. Whenever we saw him (even outside of work) he seemed to be surrounded and he always wearing these colors. The meaning of this use of color seemed to place an emphasis on the autumn season, and not just this particular season, but on the idea of how all seasons bring change. Raymond ended up representing a time of change in Cathy’s life. His arrival lined up with the beginning of Cathy’s problems even if they were not necessarily the cause of it all. So with this in mind its not a surprise that Raymond left in the end, because everything he was portrayed as in the movie was seasonal and like seasons end so did his part in her life. This is especially emphasized by the ending shot of the movie where Cathy is seen driving away from the train station and as she drives away the camera focuses on a blossoming flower, which shows the beginning of a new season, Spring. Spring, a time of rebirth, represents Cathy’s having to start her life anew.

Purple, final color that I focused on in the movie was the use of the color purple. Its use was rare in the movie, and the only time I noticed it being used was when it tied into the relationship between Raymond and Cathy. It symbolized the budding romance between Cathy and Raymond, which is why at the end when she grabs her scarf the viewer understands that she is going to see Raymond.