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Feminist film theory is theoretical work within film criticism that is derived from feminist politics and feminist theory. Feminism is a discourse that involves various movements theories, and Philosophies which are concerned with the issue of Gender difference, advocate The feminist movement (also known as the Women's Movement or Women's Liberation) is a series of campaigns on issues such as Reproductive rights (sometimes Feminist theory is the extension of Feminism into theoretical or philosophical, ground Feminist economics broadly refers to a developing branch of Economics that applies feminist lenses to economics Feminist Sexology is an offshoot of traditional studies of Sexology that focuses on the Intersectionality of sex and gender in relation to the sexual lives of women Feminist Theology is a movement generally in Christianity, Judaism and New Thought, to reconsider the traditions practices Scriptures Gender equality (also known as gender equity, gender egalitarianism, or sexual equality) is the goal of the Equality of the Genders Antifeminism is opposition to Feminism in some or all of its forms Pro-feminism refers to support of the cause of Feminism without implying that the supporter is a member of the Feminist movement. Feminist history refers to the re-reading and re-interpretation of history from a female perspective. ---- The history of Feminism is the history of Feminist movements and their efforts to overturn injustices of Gender inequality. First-wave feminism refers to a period of Feminist activity during the nineteenth and early Twentieth century in the United Kingdom and Second-wave feminism refers to a period of Feminist activity which began during the 1960s and lasted through the late 1970s Third-wave feminism is a term identified with several diverse strains of feminist activity and study beginning in the early 1990s Women's suffrage has been granted at various times in various countries throughout the world Suffragette is a term originally coined by the Daily Mail newspaper as a derogatory label for the more radical and Militant members of the Beginnings Lydia Chapin (Taft (February 2 1712 – November 9 1778 was a forerunner of women's suffrage in Colonial Amazon feminism is dedicated to the image of the female hero in Fiction and in fact as expressed in the Physiques and feats of female athletes martial artists Anarcha-feminism (also called anarchist feminism and anarcho-feminism) combines Anarchism with Feminism. Black feminism argues that Sexism, class oppression and Racism are inextricably bound together Chicana feminism, also called Xicanisma, is a group of social theories that analyze the historical social political and economic roles of Mexican American Christian feminism is an aspect of Feminist theology which seeks to advance and understand the equality of Men and Women morally socially Cultural feminism developed from radical feminism It is an ideology of a "female nature" or "female essence" that attempts to revalidate what cultural feminists consider Difference feminism is a philosophy that stresses that Men and Women are ontologically different versions of the human being Ecofeminism is a social and political movement which attempts to unite Environmentalism and Feminism, with some currents linking Deep ecology and Equity feminism and gender feminism are terms coined by conservative libertarian Christina Hoff Sommers in her book Who Stole Feminism? published in 1992 Equality feminism is a submovement of Feminism. It is fundamentally at odds with Difference feminism and expresses the crucial similarities between the male Fat feminism or fat-positive feminism is a form of Feminism that argues overweight women are economically educationally socially and physically disadvantaged due Equity feminism and gender feminism are terms coined by conservative libertarian Christina Hoff Sommers in her book Who Stole Feminism? published in 1992 Global Feminism is a feminist theory concerned with the forward movement of Women's rights on a global scale Individualist feminism (sometimes also grouped with libertarian feminism or ifeminism) is a term for feminist ideas which seek to celebrate Islamic feminism is a form of Feminism concerned with the role of women in Islam. Jewish feminism is a movement that seeks to improve the religious legal and social status of women within Judaism and to open up new opportunities for religious experience Lesbian feminism is a cultural movement and critical perspective most popular in the 1970s and early 1980s (primarily in North America and Western Europe that questions the position Liberal feminism, also known as "mainstream Feminism," asserts the equality of men and women through political and legal reform Marxist feminism is a sub-type of Feminist theory which focuses on the dismantling of Capitalism as a way to liberate women New feminism is a predominantly Catholic philosophy which emphasizes a belief in an integral complementarity of men and women rather than the superiority of men over women or Postcolonial feminism is a form of Feminist Philosophy which criticizes Western forms of Feminism, notably Radical feminism and Postmodern feminism is an approach to Feminist theory that incorporates postmodern and post-structuralist theory. Pro-life feminism is the opposition to Abortion, based on Feminism. Radical feminism is a "current" within Feminism that focuses on the theory of Patriarchy as a system of power that organizes society into a complex Separatist feminism is a form of Feminism that does not support Heterosexual relationships due to a belief that sexual disparities between Men Sex-positive feminism, also known as pro-sex feminism, sex-radical feminism, or sexually liberal feminism, is a movement that began in the early 1980s Socialist feminism is a branch of Feminism that focuses upon both the public and private spheres of a woman's life and argues that Liberation can only be achieved Thealogy is a Neologism translating to "study of the Goddess " (based on Greek θεά thea, "goddess" + -λόγία Feminism is a discourse that involves various movements theories, and Philosophies which are concerned with the issue of Gender difference, advocate Transfeminism as a noun is a category of feminism most often known for the application of Transgender discourses to feminist discourses and of feminist beliefs Feminism in France has its origins in the French Revolution. A few famous figures emerged during the 1871 Paris Commune, including Louise Michel, Russian-born Gerwani (from Gerakan Wanita Indonesia, Indonesian Women's Movement was an organization of communist women active in Indonesia in the 1950s The women in Revolutionary Nicaragua essentially fought a double revolution 1 to secure national freedom and 2 to secure their equality. The Feminist movement in Nepal is primarily concerned with equity and Equality of opportunity. ---- The history of Feminism is the history of Feminist movements and their efforts to overturn injustices of Gender inequality. Feminist history in the United Kingdom covers part of the Feminism movement in the United Kingdom from 1800 to the present day For Women's suffrage see History of women's suffrage in the United States. This is a list of important participants in the development of Feminism, listed by feminist ideology This is a list of important contributions to the literature of Feminism, listed by year of first publication This is a list of topics related to the issue of Feminism, Women's liberation, the Women's movement, and Women's rights: All-female Film theory debates the essence of the cinema and provides conceptual frameworks for understanding film's relationship to Reality, the other Arts individual Film review redirects here for the similar sounding Film revue please visit Revue#Film revues. Feminism is a discourse that involves various movements theories, and Philosophies which are concerned with the issue of Gender difference, advocate Feminist theory is the extension of Feminism into theoretical or philosophical, ground Feminists have taken many different approaches to the analysis of cinema both in the elements of film they look at and their theoretical underpinnings. Feminism is a discourse that involves various movements theories, and Philosophies which are concerned with the issue of Gender difference, advocate

Contents

History

The development of feminist film theory was influenced by second wave feminism and the development of women's studies within the academy. Second-wave feminism refers to a period of Feminist activity which began during the 1960s and lasted through the late 1970s Feminist scholars began applying the new theories arising from these movements to analyzing film. Initial attempts in the United States in the early 1970’s were generally based on sociological theory and focused on the function of women characters in particular film narratives or genres and of stereotypes as a reflection of a society's view of women. Sociological Theory is a peer-reviewed journal published by Blackwell Publishing for the American Sociological Association since 1983 A genre (ˈʒɑːnrə also /ˈdʒɑːnrə/ from French "kind" or "sort" from Latin: genus (stem gener-) is a loose set A stereotype (from Greek: stereo + týpos = "solid impression" is a generalized perception of first impressions behaviors presumed by a group Works such as Marjorie Rosen’s Popcorn Venus: Women, Movies, and the American Dream (1973) and Molly Haskell’s From Reverence to Rape: The Treatment of Women in Movies (1974) analyzed how the women portrayed in film related to the broader historical context, the stereotypes depicted, the extent to which the women were shown as active or passive, and the amount of screen time given to women. Molly Haskell (born September 29, 1939 in Charlotte, North Carolina) is a feminist Film critic and author [1]

In contrast, film theoreticians in England began integrating perspectives drawn from psychoanalysis, semiotics, and Marxism, and eventually these ideas gained hold within the American scholarly community in the later 1970’s and 1980’s. Psychoanalytic theory is a general term for approaches to Psychoanalysis which attempt to provide a conceptual framework more-or-less independent of clinical practice rather Semiotics, semiotic studies, or semiology is the study of sign processes (semiosis or signification and communication signs and Symbols both Marxism is the political philosophy and practice derived from the work of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. Analysis generally focused on "the production of meaning in a film text, the way a text constructs a viewing subject, and the ways in which the very mechanisms of cinematic production affect the representation of women and reinforce sexism". [2]

In his article, "From the Imaginary Signifier: Identification, Mirror," Christian Metz argues that viewing film is only possible through scopophilia (pleasure from looking, related to voyeurism), which is best exemplified in silent film. Voyeurism is the sexual interest in spying on people engaged in intimate behaviors such as undressing sexual activity or urinating Voyeurism is the sexual interest in spying on people engaged in intimate behaviors such as undressing sexual activity or urinating [3]

According to Cynthia A. Freeland in "Feminist Frameworks for Horror Films," feminist studies of horror films have focused on psychodynamics where the chief interest is "on viewers' motives and interests in watching horror films". [4]

More recently, scholars have expanded their work to include analysis of television and digital media. Television ( TV) is a widely used Telecommunication medium for sending ( Broadcasting) and receiving moving Images, either monochromatic Digital media (as opposed to analog media) usually refers to Electronic media that work on digital Codes. Additionally, they have begun to explore notions of difference, engaging in dialogue about the differences among women (part of movement away from essentialism in feminist work more generally), the various methodologies and perspectives contained under the umbrella of feminist film theory, and the multiplicity of methods and intended effects that influence the development of films. In Philosophy, essentialism is the view that for any specific kind of Entity, there is a set of Characteristics or Properties all of which Scholars are also taking increasingly global perspectives, responding to postcolonialist criticisms of Anglo- and Eurocentrism in the academy more generally. Postcolonialism ( postcolonial theory, post-colonial theory) is an intellectual discourse that holds together a set of theories found among the texts and Eurocentrism is the practice of viewing the world from a European perspective with an implied belief either consciously or subconsciously in the preeminence of European (and Increased focus has been given to, "disparate feminisms, nationalisms, and media in various locations and across class, racial, and ethnic groups throughout the world". [5]

Key themes

The gaze and the female spectator

In considering the way that films are put together, many feminist film critics have pointed to the "male gaze" that predominates in classical Hollywood filmmaking. In analysing Visual culture, the concept of The Gaze (also gaze and Le regard in French describes how the viewer gazes upon Classical Hollywood cinema or the classical Hollywood narrative, are terms used in film history which designates both a visual and sound style for making motion pictures Laura Mulvey's essay "Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema" gave one of the most widely influential versions of this argument. Laura Mulvey (born August 15, 1941) was educated at St Hilda's College, Oxford. From an explicitly psychoanalytic viewpoint, Mulvey argues that that cinema provides visual pleasure through scopophilia and identification with the on-screen male actor. Voyeurism is the sexual interest in spying on people engaged in intimate behaviors such as undressing sexual activity or urinating Mulvey argues that Freud's psychoanalytic theory is the key to understanding why film creates a space where women are viewed as sexual objects by men. She says that it is the combination of the patriarchal order of society and looking as a pleasurable act (voyeurism) that create film as an outlet for female sexual exploitation. An important observation that she makes is that the dominance that men embody is only so because women exist. Without a woman to compare to, a man and his supremacy as the controller of visual pleasure are insignificant. It is the presence of the female that defines the patriarchal order of society as well as the male psychology of thought.

Mulvey identifies three "looks" or perspectives that occur in film to sexually objectify women. The first is the perspective of the male character on screen and how he perceives the female character. The second is the perspective of the audience as they see the female character on screen. The third "look" joins the first two looks together: it is the male audience member's perspective of the male character in the film. This third perspective allows the male audience to take the female character as his own personal sex object because he can relate himself, through looking, to the male character in the film. In "Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema", Mulvey calls for a destruction of modern film structure as the only way to free women from their sexual objectification in film. Essentially we must take away the pleasure in looking that film allows for by creating distance between the male spectator and the female character. The only way to do so is to destroy the element of voyeurism and "the invisible guest".

Mulvey's argument comes as a product of the time period in which she was writing. "Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema" was written in 1973 and published in 1975. This was during the time period of second-wave feminism, which was a period concerned with the women's achievement of equality in the workplace and the psychological implications of sexual stereotypes. Mulvey calls for an eradication of female sexual objectivity in order to align herself with second-wave feminism. In order for women to be equally represented in the workplace, women must be portrayed as men are: as lacking sexual objectification.

Critics of Mulvey’s analysis of the gaze challenge that she does not allow for the female spectator. More than that, she does not assume that female viewers will take on a masculine gaze. Mulvey underestimates the female audience's ability to critique and view other females in a masculine way because it would mean that women were actively participating in the oppression of their own gender. Assuming that women would not willingly do this, Mulvey excludes this possibility from her argument, leaving her with a gap in her argument. [6] Janet Bergstrom’s article “Enunciation and Sexual Difference” (1979) uses Sigmund Freud’s ideas of bisexual responses, arguing that women are capable of identifying with male characters and men with women characters, either successively or simultaneously. Sigmund Freud (ˈziːkmʊnt ˈfʁɔʏt born Sigismund Shlomo Freud (May 6 1856 &ndash September 23 1939 was an Austrian Psychiatrist who founded [7] Miriam Hanson, in “Pleasure, Ambivalence, Identification: Valentino and Female Spectatorship” (1984) put forth the idea that women are also able to view male characters as erotic objects of desire. [8] In "The Master's Dollhouse: Rear Window," Tania Modleski argues that Hitchock's film, Rear Window, is an example of the power of male gazer and the position of the female as a prisoner of the "master's dollhouse". Rear Window is a Suspense film directed by Alfred Hitchcock, based on Cornell Woolrich 's Short story It Had to Be Murder [9]

Laura Mulvey, in response to these and other criticisms revisited the topic in “Afterthoughts on ‘Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema’ inspired by Duel in the Sun” (1981). In addressing the female spectator, she revised her stance to argue that women can take two possible roles in relation to film: a masochistic identification with the female object of desire that is ultimately self-defeating or a transsexual identification with men as the active viewers of the text. [10]. A new vision concerning the gaze was offered in the early 1990s by Bracha Ettinger's notion of the "matrixial gaze". Bracha L Ettinger (born 1951 also known as Bracha Ettinger, Bracha Lichtenberg Ettinger, Hebrew ברכה אטינגר, ברכה ליכטנברג-אטינגר The Ettingerian psychoanalytical theory based on her art practice has articulated a non-phallic sphere inside which a gaze, related to a specific feminine unconscious zone (in males and in females), bypasses the phallic desire. [11]"Psychoanalytic film theory in particular should benefit from her de-stagnation of the relationship between the female and the gaze". [12] Art historian Griselda Pollock is continually working with the Ettingerian concept of the matrixial gaze to transform the field of visual culture in the domains of painting, photography and film. Griselda Pollock (born 1949) is a prominent art historian and cultural analyst and a world-renowned scholar of international post-colonial feminist studies in the [13]

Realism and counter cinema

The early work of Marjorie Rosen and Molly Haskell on representation of women in film was part of a movement to make depictions of women more realistic both in documentaries and narrative cinema. Documentary film is a broad category of visual expression that is based on the attempt in one fashion or another to " Document " reality The growing female presence in the film industry was seen as a positive step toward realizing this goal, by drawing attention to feminist issues and putting forth alternative, more true-to-life views of women. However, these images are still mediated by the same factors as traditional film, such as the “moving camera, composition, editing, lighting, and all varieties of sound. ” While acknowledging the value in inserting positive representations of women in film, some critics asserted that real change would only come about from reconsidering the role of film in society, often from a semiotic point of view. [14]

Claire Johnston put forth the idea that women’s cinema can function as "counter cinema". This article is about the film theorist For the South African singer see Claire Johnston (musician. Through consciousness of the means of production and opposition of sexist ideologies, films made by women have the potential to posit an alternative to traditional Hollywood films. [15] In reaction to this article, many women filmmakers have integrated "alternative forms and experimental techniques" to "encourage audiences to critique the seemingly transparent images on the screen and to question the manipulative techniques of filming and editing". [16]

References

  1. ^ Erens, Patricia. “Introduction” Issues in Feminist Film Criticism. Patricia Erens, ed. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1990. pp. xvi.
  2. ^ Erens, Patricia. "Introduction", Issues in Feminist Film Criticism. Patricia Erens, ed. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1990. pp. xvii.
  3. ^ Braudy and Cohen, Film Theory and Criticism, Sixth Edition, Oxford University Press, 2004, page 827
  4. ^ Braudy and Cohen, Film Theory and Criticism, Sixth Edition, Oxford University Press, 2004
  5. ^ McHugh, Kathleen and Vivian Sobchack. “Introduction: Recent Approaches to Film Feminisms. ” Signs 30(1):1205-1207.
  6. ^ Mulvey, Laura. “Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema. ” The Feminism and Visual Culture Reader. B. Ruby Rich argues that women’s relationships with film is instead dialectical, consciously filtering the images and messages they receive through cinema, and reprocessing them to elicit their own meanings. <ref>Rich, B. Ruby. “In the Name of Feminist Film Criticism. ''Issues in Feminist Film Criticism. '' Patricia Erens, ed. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1990, pp. 268-287. <ref>[[Bell Hooks]], coming from a black feminist perspective, put forth the notion of the “oppositional gaze,” encouraging black women not to accept stereotypical representations in film, but rather actively critique them. <ref> hooks, bell. “The Oppositional Gaze: Black Female Spectators. ” ''The Feminism and Visual Culture Reader. '' Amelia Jones, ed. London: Routledge, 2003, pp. 94-105. </li> <li id="cite_note-6">'''[[#cite_ref-6|^]]''' Erens, Patricia. “Introduction” ''Issues in Feminist Film Criticism. '' Patricia Erens, ed. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1990. pp. xxi. </li> <li id="cite_note-7">'''[[#cite_ref-7|^]]''' Erens, Patricia. “Introduction” ''Issues in Feminist Film Criticism. '' Patricia Erens, ed. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1990. pp. xxi. </li> <li id="cite_note-8">'''[[#cite_ref-8|^]]''' Braudy and Cohen, ''Film Theory and Criticism'', Sixth Edition, Oxford University Press, 2004, page 861. </li> <li id="cite_note-9">'''[[#cite_ref-9|^]]''' Erens, Patricia. “Introduction” ''Issues in Feminist Film Criticism. '' Patricia Erens, ed. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1990. pp. xxi. </li> <li id="cite_note-10">'''[[#cite_ref-10|^]]''' Ettinger, Bracha. "The Matrixial Gaze" (1994), reprinted as Chapter One in: Bracha L. Ettinger, ''The Matrixial Borderspace'', University of Minnesota Press, 2006. </li> <li id="cite_note-11">'''[[#cite_ref-11|^]]''' Andrew Shail, in: ''Feminist Theory'' 8(3) 2007. [http://fty. sagepub. com/cgi/content/citation/8/3/354]</li> <li id="cite_note-12">'''[[#cite_ref-12|^]]''' Griselda Pollock & Penny Florence, ''Looking Back to the Future: Essays by Griselda Pollock from the 1990s''. New York: G&B New Arts Press, 2001. </li> <li id="cite_note-13">'''[[#cite_ref-13|^]]''' Erens, Patricia. “Introduction” ''Issues in Feminist Film Criticism. '' Patricia Erens, ed. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1990. pp. xviii. </li> <li id="cite_note-14">'''[[#cite_ref-14|^]]''' Johnston, Claire. "Women’s Cinema as Counter Cinema. " ''Sexual Strategems: The World of Women in Film. '' Patricia Erens, ed. New York: Horizon Press, 1979, pp 133-143. </li> <li id="cite_note-15">'''[[#cite_ref-15|^]]''' Erens, Patricia. “Introduction” ''Issues in Feminist Film Criticism. '' Patricia Erens, ed. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1990. pp. xix. </li></ol></ref>

Further reading

See also

Laura Mulvey (born August 15, 1941) was educated at St Hilda's College, Oxford. Dai Jinhua (1959 is Chinese Feminist Film critic. She teaches at Peking University as well as in the United States. This article is about the film theorist For the South African singer see Claire Johnston (musician. Molly Haskell (born September 29, 1939 in Charlotte, North Carolina) is a feminist Film critic and author Teresa de Lauretis is an Italian-born author and Professor of the History of Consciousness at the University of California Santa Cruz. Kaja Silverman is an American film theorist and art historian Bracha L Ettinger (born 1951 also known as Bracha Ettinger, Bracha Lichtenberg Ettinger, Hebrew ברכה אטינגר, ברכה ליכטנברג-אטינגר Griselda Pollock (born 1949) is a prominent art historian and cultural analyst and a world-renowned scholar of international post-colonial feminist studies in the
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