The radical notion that women like good movies
Piper Laurie and Sissy Spacek (1976 film) This piece is from Monthly Contributor Carrie Nelson. (Warning: Contains spoilers about Stephen King’s Carrie and its film and stage adaptations.) I love Stephen King’s Carrie, and not just because we share the same name. More than anything, I love the way that Carrie honestly explores the tensions … Continue reading “Motherhood in Film & Television: The Evolution of Margaret White”
The Walking Dead This is a guest review by Rebecca Cohen. Season 2 of the AMC zombie drama The Walking Dead features a character, Lori, grappling with the dilemma of an unexpected pregnancy. Complicating matters are the slightly unusual circumstances, including uncertainty about the baby’s paternity, as well as the minor problem of a zombie … Continue reading “Reproduction & Abortion Week: Melodramatic Clichés and Missed Opportunities: Lori’s Pregnancy in ‘The Walking Dead’”
The cast of Battlestar Galactica This is a guest review by Leigh Kolb. “All of this has happened before, and all of this will happen again.” The opening credits of each episode of Battlestar Galactica, which aired from 2004 – 2009, set the premise for the plot: “The Cylons were created by man. They evolved. … Continue reading “Reproduction & Abortion Week: Procreation at the End of Civilization: Reproductive Rights on ‘Battlestar Galactica’”
Megan Fox in Transformers This guest post by Melanie Taylor previously appeared at her site The Feminist Guide to Hollywood in June 2011. For a while on my blog, I had the pleasure of highlighting various men who were espousing impressive feminist rhetoric in the Hollywood landscape. Today, I do not have that pleasure. Actor … Continue reading “Guest Writer Wednesday: Shia LeBeouf Mocks Megan Fox for Feminist Thinking”
The Wicked Queen This is a guest review by Rebecca Cohen. I’m not the first to note that the female protagonists of Disney animated features tend not to have mothers. When adult women do appear, they are evil wicked stepmothers, as in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs and Cinderella, or evil sorceresses, as in … Continue reading “Animated Children’s Films: The Evolution of the Disney Villainess”
Connie Britton as “Tami Taylor” in Friday Night Lights If there is one woman in Dillon who stands head and shoulders above them all, it’s Tami Taylor. Unfortunately, that doesn’t seem too hard to do. Mothers in Dillon have not been the most successful characters; they were either drunk/druggies (Mama Collette, Vince’s mother, Becky’s mother), … Continue reading “Emmy Week 2011: Tami Taylor, My Hero”
Cast of Friday Night Lights Each woman in Friday Night Lights, like each man in the show, is defined by their relationship to football. Or rather, the town tries to define them by their relationship to the featured football team (either the Dillon Panthers during the first seasons or the East Dillon Lions during the … Continue reading “Emmy Week 2011: Friday Night Lights: Deep in the Heart of Texas”
This guest post by Marina DelVecchio also appears at Marinagraphy. In the past year, directors have been trying to feed our womanist pangs for more girl power in films. At least this is how I see the trend. Because as a woman and a mother, I want to see movies that represent my gender as … Continue reading “Guest Writer Wednesday: Girl Power in Sucker Punch, Hanna, and Winter’s Bone”
Filmmaker Tanya Hamilton In past Director Spotlight features, we’ve highlighted women with extensive filmographies and those who have been nominated for or who have won an Academy Award for directing. Today’s Spotlight, however, looks at a woman who has made only one feature film: Tanya Hamilton. Last December, Arielle Loren wrote about her experience watching … Continue reading “Director Spotlight: Tanya Hamilton”
Sucker punched by “Sucker Punch”– Girls and guns don’t equal female empowerment This is a cross-post from What Tami Said. This really is the best movie ever cuz its like hollywood finally said to me Fuk yeah you my man are all we care about heres some awesome shit for you to get off on and … Continue reading “Guest Writer Wednesday: Sucker Punch”
The Social Network (2010) This is a guest review from Carrie Polansky. There are two ways to read women in the universe of The Social Network: 1. As unnecessary set dressing, existing solely for the aesthetic and sexual pleasure of men; or2. As vital to the invention of social networking and, by extension, to the … Continue reading “Best Picture Nominee Review Series: The Social Network”
Winter’s Bone I first saw Winter’s Bone last summer. I remember leaving the theatre feeling that I’d never seen a film quite like the one I’d just watched. The viewing experience had left me mentally exhausted; more than an hour-and-a-half of tension and suspense made me incapable of arguing exactly why the film was so … Continue reading “Ripley’s Pick: ‘Winter’s Bone’”
