Monday and Wednesday was the first time I’ve actually seen The Help and I have to say it was a great experience. What I loved about the film is how it had different types of women characters rather than one singular like we have seen in the previous films. We have the high white elite, the “white trash”, the educated woman, and most of all the African American maids. It was so interesting to see how these women interacted with one another and how they shared the screen together.

It was nice to see a film solely based off the women’s lives rather than their dependence on men. If anything the men were apart of the subplot and most of the time gave “the gaze” or “power” to the women. I think this was a great way to show that women can carry a film, and do not need a male element to keep the story moving. I still feel that the best element of this film is all the different types of women. The high class New York contrasted with the Mississippi women. There is so much going on and it’s great to just see a film that has women in a variety of roles not just one non-linear character.

‘The Help’ is one of my favorite movies. It is one of those movies where no matter how many times I watch it I can always count on it to bring me to tears (multiple times).

The plot of this film is based on a true story and is an adaptation of a novel. The story is obviously very progressive for something that takes place in the 50’s. In “The Case of the Missing Mother,” Kaplan pointed out an aspect of the film that I love, but had never thought of before. Kaplan discussed how strong female relationships are things that disturb and intimidate the patriarchy. However, if these strong bonds persevere they can lead to great successes.

The female relationships in the movie are so powerful because they are completely mutual. Although the black, female characters appear inferior, they give the white women just as much as the white women give them. For example, in one of the final scenes we see how far both Celia and Minny have come: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8j0c-W-xVlE They are both supportive of each other and make the other more confident.

The same is true for Skeeter’s relationship with Aibleen and Minny. Both give the other courage. Skeeter follows her dreams of “writing about something she cares about” and not succumbing to the “role” her patriarchal society expects of her.  Aibleen and Minny find the courage and power to speak out against the discrimination and unreasonable lifestyle they lead.

Men play little to no role in the film (in my opinion). The story and characters demonstrate the power female relationships have as long as they are not battered down by societal fears and expectations.

I still have not stopped thinking about the feminist sex scene since our discussion in class. Its been plaguing me really. What’s really been bugging me is the idea of the gaze being male especially the audience. I think it is not possible because of this. The thought that kept coming back to me was about banned books. When I was younger one of my favorite books was Olive’s Ocean. In high school I learned that it is one of the most banned books in this country. It baffled me. The books was banned for “sexually explicit content”. The most sexually explicit moment that occurred is the main character receives her first kiss and an awkward flirtation. Yet this does not stop the book from being challenged by numerous libraries and schools. I was 8 or 9 when I first read the book and had no issue with it. But others found the book horribly offensive. This is similar to the issue with the feminist sex scene. Someone will always be offended. A director can work as hard as they possibly can to avoid any instances of sexism but someone may still take issue with how the scene is filmed.

When we first started this discussion a clip from the movie Across the Universe came to mind. This scene is not exactly a sex scene. However it is clear that the two and possibly others do have sex. I think what is so great about this scene is the body positions. They are in water so there is no “on top”. They just float around equally. Additionally although they are naked, there is no showing of any genitalia on either Jude or Lucy. It is simple and clean and to me both characters seem  equal in their positioning, how much of their body is revealed and who is in control. To me this is as close to a sex scene as I could imagine where it is neither sexist and does not try to use equal exploitation as a solution to sexism either.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PrrSH6P7eDw

I’m really excited to continue watching the movie in class tomorrow. I think that so far the film is very interesting. It really focuses on a lot of different aspects. I feel like in a lot of what we’ve covered in class so far, the question of woman as a nurturer or as independent has been the main topic. I am eager to see how race now plays into this as well. Since I have never seen the movie before, I am also curious to see if Minnie’s relationship with her husband heightens. When we left class the other day, we saw her being abused by her husband, but that was it. I am wondering how, and if, we will see how Minnie eventually handles the abusive relationship that she has with her husband.

Sam

Something very interesting happened in class today. I have already seen The Help twice, so I thought there would be nothing that would be new or jump out at me. So I watched the film I tried to focus in on the dynamics of each of these women in relation to their children and especially the mothers/daughters. Yet as the movie progressed, it was a different relationship that really stuck out to me: the relationship between the wives and their husbands. What I noticed was that in the relationships where the wives were also mothers, the husbands treated them very indifferently or, in some cases, very rudely. They would be dismissive, abusive or in the very least unaffectionate. The one marriage that is used as a comparison is the marriage of Celia and Johnny. With no children, Celia and Johnny are extremely affectionate with each other and the movie heavily imply the strong sexual relationship between them.

I’m not sure if this was intentional or not, but it seems to be a comment on the lack of sexuality given toward the mothers. As if they could not be the sexual beings like Celia is, and also be portrayed as mothers as well.

In class, we talked a lot about how Bridget flipped stereotypes of women and how this impacted our viewing of the film.  The majority of the class seemed to agree that if Bridget were a man the character would simply be a malicious jerk.  As a man, Bridget would lose her cunning charm.   However, I think it is important to also consider the role of Mike and how he flips the male stereotype.  How would he be seen if he were a female character being tricked by a male Bridget?  Mike’s character is constantly being tested and he often appears as being weak and insecure.  He begs for Bridget’s real attention and fears she is using him for sex.  In the end, he seems to be willing to do anything for his love for Bridget.  Bridget seems to represent this unobtainable goal for Mike of breaking out of his small town.  In this way, I would say that Mike explicitly demonstrates female stereotypes in a relationship.  Women are constantly being criticized for being too clingy after sex and using men as a source of self identification.  By having Mike, a male character, play this role John Dahl, the director, is able to flip stereotypes in a way that force the viewer to see how ridiculous they actually are.

For those interested (or weirded out,  either one) by the feminist sex scene discussion and my contribution in class, here is the link to the list I was talking about on Friday:

http://www.alternet.org/steamiest-pro-woman-sex-scenes

Going over this list now, I actually noticed something that I hadn’t caught before– in the first paragraph, there is another link that goes to a controversial quote from Shailene Woodley about feminism. Apparently when Woodley was asked if she was a feminist, as all of her major roles have been strong and independent young female characters, she stated:”No, because I love men, I think the idea of ‘raise women to power, take the men away from the power’ is never going to work out because you need balance … And also I think that if men went down and women rose to power, that wouldn’t work either. We have to have a fine balance. My biggest thing is really sisterhood more than feminism. I don’t know how we as women expect men to respect us because we don’t even seem to respect each other.”

I’m glad I was able to catch this, because this kind of thinking is so clearly pertinent to what we’re trying to analyze and study in class this semester. The fact that the basic definition and meaning of feminism is still a gray area for people (particularly female actresses who so actively need to be thinking about how they are portrayed on screen) is a troubling issue. Also, the way celebrities and Hollywood is so idolized in Western culture gives even more weight to what actors/actresses are saying in the media; if skewed or flat-out incorrect interpretations of feminism are being dolled out by one female actress after another, this only gives feminist awareness an even tougher job of being properly represented in the world of film.

Back to the feminist sex scene though, the 2 that stuck out most to me were “The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo” and “Love and Basketball.” I’ve seen both films and each one has a very different sexual dynamic. In the first, Rooney Mara overtly dominates Daniel Craig (not to say he isn’t willing), but in terms of the equal relationship and role dynamic we were discussing, I’m not sure if this scene would qualify. “Love and Basketball” would probably be more accepted on an equality level, but there is still a male-dominated presence that the camera gives us. The male character is much more experienced than the female character, so he’s the one taking charge and enlightening her, so to speak. It’s unfortunate to admit, but I can’t say if I’ve ever seen a truly feminist love scene. The very fact that I couldn’t think of one when the topic was first brought up in class says enough. Who knows though, hopefully I’ll be enlightened as the semester goes on. After all, I’m still just a young tadpole in this sea of feminist film knowledge! I can only hope to one day sprout into a beautiful feminist frog.

In her article, Kaplan discusses how women have been represented in media, particularly in film. She defines representation as “mediations embedded through the art form in the dominant ideology.” The infamous “gaze” has always been male. It is something that has represented the power of action and of possession that is lacking in the female gaze. Kaplan asks many questions:

• Is it possible to structure things so that women own the gaze?
• Would women want to own the gaze if possible?
• What does it mean to be a female spectator?

Kaplan claims that in order to revert the objectifying representations of women in film, we need to ask these questions as often as possible. Asking these questions is half the battle, and holds a lot of power.

Kaplan also discusses how most fantasies follow a dominant-submission formula. However, she wonders: does the dominant force in any situation have to be associated with masculinity? At the end of her article, she leaves us with a lesson. She tells us that it is dangerous to view society in black & white binaries such as male/female, dominant/submissive, matriarchy/patriarchy.

Therefore, I pose this question in regards to The Last Seduction: Does Bridget, our protagonist, violate these boundaries? For example, is she a perfect representation of dominant/female?

Wednesday’s film The Last Seduction a real thriller to me just by how the use of gender roles were reversed. Mike is constantly it what society would categorize as the feminine role. He is begging and pleading for Bridgette to open up to him, and we get a visual representation of him covering himself after sex as he feels dirty. This is a great attribute about the film is how it plays on the norms we think of. Throughout the film I found it hard to see Bridgette as the villain. If anything she was the smartest person in the entire film, and had morals that could be seen as empowering to woman. To me Bridgette was a type of anti-hero for women. In an extreme context of course, but Bridgette shows signs of a strong feminist with a twisted perspective. She wants to help wives that have been cheated on, and always points back to her husband hitting her. She ingeniously uses our socially constructed ideas to her advantage, and displays a modern femme fatal. In my opinion Bridgette was a twisted human, but her characteristics made her so polarizing beyond just physical attraction. I found myself more interested in her mind or the way she acted. That leaves me wondering what others think. Is Bridgette in a way an anti-hero or just a twisted human? Either way she is great on screen character.