Video-related news of interest
Feb. 3rd, 2011 09:55 am![[personal profile]](http://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
laurashapiroThose interested in the ever-complicated discussion of fair use as it applies to vidding will appreciate Anita Sarkeesian's How I Fought Against a YouTube Takedown and Eventually Won.
What's particularly relevant is the mention of an organization called New Media Rights, which "provides pro bono legal resources and its free media studio to creators - artists, filmmakers, podcasters, citizen journalists, bloggers, open source software projects, as well as nonprofits." NMR helped Anita restore her video and had some interesting insights about why it was taken down.
And by way ofsuch_heights, I want to be sure to share this video by The Girls on Film. It's a line-for-line scene from the Star Trek reboot, with women cast in the men's roles.
This is an ongoing project of The Girls on Film, who have also done scenes from Fight Club and The Town. The videos are simple, but the impact is striking. Can you imagine women in these roles? How would it change your experience as a filmgoer? How would it change cultural perceptions of what women can do?
What's particularly relevant is the mention of an organization called New Media Rights, which "provides pro bono legal resources and its free media studio to creators - artists, filmmakers, podcasters, citizen journalists, bloggers, open source software projects, as well as nonprofits." NMR helped Anita restore her video and had some interesting insights about why it was taken down.
And by way of
such_heights, I want to be sure to share this video by The Girls on Film. It's a line-for-line scene from the Star Trek reboot, with women cast in the men's roles. This is an ongoing project of The Girls on Film, who have also done scenes from Fight Club and The Town. The videos are simple, but the impact is striking. Can you imagine women in these roles? How would it change your experience as a filmgoer? How would it change cultural perceptions of what women can do?
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on 2011-02-03 06:21 pm (UTC)no subject
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on 2011-02-03 06:59 pm (UTC)And you're welcome!
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on 2011-02-03 07:00 pm (UTC)I'm actually impressed with the production values of the clip, though.
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on 2011-02-03 09:36 pm (UTC)Even the group that is making these films won't own up to any kind of actual belief or value system in what they are doing as is shown in this description on their about page.
"(d) TGOF is a commentary with the objective of stimulating thought around the art of storytelling through film. We set out to challenge the current societal perspective of what is deemed appropriate and the “right way” of doing things. Through our exploration of archetypal energies that are typically portrayed by men blah blah blah… Wow. This is boring and stuffy, are you actually still reading? …Lets just stick with penis envy."
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on 2011-02-03 11:53 pm (UTC)no subject
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on 2011-02-04 02:49 am (UTC)And what they're doing, in the main, is throwing the construction of masculinity into sharp relief. When I watch the Star Trek video, I notice which aspects of Kirk's character are inherent in the writing, and which are conveyed via the performance of the actor. I begin to see how the concept of "manhood" is created, both by the kind of stories we give to male characters and by the machismo required of actors playing these parts.
Seeing a woman in the role initially seems to strip away the performance of masculinity from the role so that you notice the part as written, minus the dazzling testosterone overload. You notice the building of Kirk's character -- the fighting, the daddy issues, the snark, the self-destructiveness -- and you ask yourself, do these characteristics have a different meaning now? Do they seem heroic now? Do they seem interesting now? Is this what a hero is?
Then you notice to what degree the woman may or may not be performing masculinity herself. Does she seem macho? Is that glamorous? Sexy? Is it ridiculous? Do I want to smack her Kirck upside the head the way I wanted to smack Chris Pine's Kirk upside the head?
Layers peel away I notice exactly what you're talking about: how problematic the standard male hero is.
Whether or not TGOF intends it, these videos critique the patriarchy.
YMMV, of course. (:
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on 2011-02-04 03:05 am (UTC)EVERYTHING YOU SAY. What a fabulous idea for critique!
(The rhetorical theorist Kenneth Burke called this "perspective by incongruity." I think it's also an example of what anthropologists mean when they talk about "making the familiar strange" as a means of gaining insight.)
/geekgasm
Thank you so much for the TGOF link.
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on 2011-02-06 11:36 pm (UTC)Thought it's reminding me of my joy-sorrow thing at the Matrix--when I saw the film in the theatres, believe it or not I didn't know anything about it, and I thought--like you WOULD--that TRINITY was the protagonist, because she turns up right away and is running on the sides of walls and stuff! And then it becomes all about how Neo's "The One" and I was SO DISAPPOINTED. But watching this reminds me of that thrill of the first part of the Matrix! Trinity 4 Evah!
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on 2011-02-07 12:15 am (UTC)I remember you saying that to me once, about Trinity. She remains awesome even if the films didn't know what to do with her.