Race, Gender, and Sexuality on Screen Final Exam

Second wave feminism

Bra burning, assimilation into the workplace, etc.

1960s & 70s

Motivations of women’s lib

Ideals of social equality/justice, genuine democracy, and the dignity of the individual

Targets of women’s lib

The sexual objectification of women and the reduction of women by the media and by men to little more than their sex appeal/reproductive organs

Not “antisexual”

Absolute control of fertility

Critical if women were to attain full equality

Roe v. Wade

January 1973

Didn’t eliminate all restrictions on abortions; declared unconstitutional any prohibitions on abortion in the first trimester and made second-trimester abortions easily available

Growth of the Civil Rights Movement in the late 50s/early 60s

• Efforts focused on segregation

• Mass boycotts

• Non-violent civil disobedience

• Television broadcasted civil rights efforts & their violent backlash to the nation

Brown v. Board of Education

• Found unconstitutional in 1954

• Some states refused to comply

• Mid-to-late 50s: battles over school desegregation

Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

• Emerged as spokesman of Civil Rights movement by 1963

• Seen as articulate and telegenic

• “I Have A Dream” speech to 250,000 in August 1963

• Assassinated April 1968

TV & the Civil Rights Movement

• Broadened support for Movement

• Convinced networks to reflect (some) of this consciousness in programming

Julia

First sitcom to place a black character in a sole starring role since Amos ’n’ Andy and Beulah had both been cancelled in 1953

Black Power Movement

• Black demands for political and social equality were manifest in the late 1960s

• Previous goals of the Civil Rights Movement were beginning to be questioned from within Black society

Acceptance of Julia by mainstream white America

Demonstrated a simultaneous acceptance of a gradualist racial politics espoused by many NAACP leaders and the character herself

Potential complaints against Julia

• The show didn’t address contemporary Black problems

• Could potentially alienate Black audiences

Diahann Carroll

• Played Julia

• Saw it as an opportunity to draw more African Americans into television production

• Often referred to her character as a sellout and questioned whether Americans would ever accept TV programming that was about black people who weren’t stereotypes

Politics of racism in Julia

Either (1) Julia misconstrued a person’s actions or intentions or (2) the racist was an obvious target and marked as out of the ordinary

Julia’s denial of racism as a serious problem

• Racism boiled down to personal misunderstanding

• Didn’t explore structural or institutional racism

• Julia was a “safe Negro”, obviously wouldn’t be involved with any of the militant organizations that were active at the time

• Coded organizations like the Black Panthers as dangerous

Gross

• Displays of sensation on the edge of respectability

• “too much” of both quantity and quality, but there’s no accounting for taste

Three Body Genres

Pornography (sexuality), horror (violence), and melodrama (emotion)

Dismissed as unmotivated beyond their power to titillate and excite

Features of bodily excess

Bodies caught in the grip of intense sensation/emotion

• Displays of orgasm (porn), violence/terror (horror), emotion/crying/weeping (melodrama)

Ecstasy, share a quality of uncontrollable convulsion/spasm, of the body “beside itself”

• Cries of pleasure (porn), screams of fear (horror), sobs of anguish (melodrama)

“Low” cultural status of porn, horror, and melodrama

• Excessive even to popular genres

• Perception that the body of the spectator is caught up in an almost involuntary mimicry of the emotion or sensation of the body on the screen, along with the fact that the body displayed is female

• Lacks proper aesthetic distance (over-involvement/investment in sensation/emotion)

The “problem” with body genres

They represent sexually ecstatic women, tortured women, and weeping women along with their respective bodily fluids

Sexuality as perversion

• The aims and objects of sexual desire are often obscure and inherently substitutive

• Unless we’re willing to see procreation as the singular goal of sex, aren’t we all perverts?

Female victimization

• Body genres hinge on this, works differently in every genre

• Can’t be explained simply by pointing to the sadistic power and pleasure of masculine spectator positions punishing or dominating female objects

Schemas of perverse pleasures

Appeal to presumed male viewers is sadistic (porn), appeals to the emerging sexual identities of its frequently adolescent spectators is sadomasochistic (horror), appeal to presumed female viewers is masochistic (melodrama)

Measures of pleasure and/or power up for grabs for female victims

• Identification can oscillate between powerlessness and power (slasher horror)

• Female subject positions can achieve limited power and pleasure within given limits of patriarchal constraints on women (sadomasochistic porn & melodramatic women’s weepies)

• Women aren’t punished for actively pursuing their sexual pleasure (non-sadomasochistic porn)

• Pleasure can be negotiated and “paid for” with a pain that conditions it

Structures of Fantasy

• Sex, violence, and emotion are cultural forms of problem-solving

• Can’t be dismissed as purely sexist/misogynistic

• To dismiss these genres as bad excesses or perversions is to miss their function as cultural problem-solving

Slasher films

• Story of psychotic killer (almost always male) who slashes a string of mostly female victims to death until he is subdued/killed, usually by a single female who has survived

• Gives viewers a clearer picture of current sexual attitudes

• Appeal is in the “engagement of repressed fears and desires and [their] reenactment of the residual conflict surrounding those feelings

Plot elements of Slasher Films

• Killer is psychotic product of sick family (mommy issues), but still recognizably human

• Most victims are attractive & sexually active women, punished for their sexual transgressions

• Location is not-home: houses or tunnels that belie a sense of safety

• Weapons are something other than guns, take on a phallic quality

The Final Girl

• Distressed women who become sole survivors

• Evolve into being active in fighting back & conquering the killer

• Intelligent, competent, practical, alert to suspicious activity, sexually reluctant

• Neither fully masculine nor fully feminine

Links between the killer & the final girl

Primary: sexual repression

Secondary: shared masculinity (phallic symbols) and shared femininity (castration)

Largely male audience of slasher films with female victims/heroes

• Gender displacement provides an identification buffer that permits the audience to explore taboo subjects in the relative safety of vicariousness

• Final girl serves as an agreeable surrogate for adolescent males (feminine enough to act out fear in ways that are culturally suspect for men, masculine enough to maintain structures of male competence and sexuality)

POV shots

Shifts in POV from killer to final girl signify shift of masculinity between the two characters, and a consequent shift in audience identification

Slasher films loosen claims of sex = gender

• combinations of masculine females and feminine males

• categories of masculine and feminine are collapsed into one and the same character

US gay liberation in the 1960s/70s

Rejecting heterosexuality's favored status in law and custom, U.S. gay activists attempted to dismantle the structures that relegated gay men and women to underground existences 

Gay liberation & “coming out”

• In its older, original meaning, coming out referred to the acknowledgement of one's homosexuality to oneself and other gay people 

• Gay liberationists transformed coming out into a public avowal 

  • Coming out implied a rejection of the negative social meaning attached to  homosexuality in favor of pride and self-acceptance 

Stonewall

On Friday, June 27, 1969, a group of Manhattan police officers set off to close the Stonewall Inn, a gay bar in the heart of Greenwich Village 

• As officers hauled patrons into police vans, a crowd of onlookers assembled on the street, taunting the cops 

• The rioting that lasted throughout the weekend signaled the start of a major social movement 

• Within weeks, gay men and women in New York formed the Gay Liberation Front (GLF), a self-proclaimed revolutionary organization 

New Queer Cinema

• found roots in postwar avant-garde practices of gay filmmakers

• solidifies as a movement across international film festivals of the early 1990s

Thematic concerns of New Queer Cinema

• documenting the “real” lives of LGBTQ+ individuals

• historical revisionism

• establishing and challenging queer community

• critiques of discrimination, social ostracization, heteronormativity, de-sexualized media depictions, governmental response to HIV/AIDS crisis

AIDS (Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome)

destroyed the body's natural defenses against infection, making the victim susceptible to a host of opportunistic infections which the body seemed incapable of resisting 

• Cases first started in the early 80s and grew at an alarming pace

• Caused by the HIV infection

Profiles of initial AIDS victims

led doctors to speculate that AIDS was a byproduct of contemporary gay male life, as a result of sexual promiscuity and "fast-lane" living (aka use of recreational drugs) 

Transmission of HIV

• could not be transmitted casually, but required the exchange of bodily fluids – blood or semen – between one person and another

• once present in the gay male population, HIV could be passed sexually from partner to partner, with the dense web of relationships in gay male subculture allowing for rapid spread 

Other high-risk populations of AIDS

• IV drug users who shared needles accounted for a significant minority of AIDS cases 

• HIV could also be transmitted through sexual contact from men to women, and from pregnant mothers infected with the virus to their newborn infants 

Gay Men’s Health Crisis (GMHC)

• Formed in 1981

• Drew in thousands of volunteer to help cure for the sick and dying, raised millions of private dollars for education/research, and lobbied for state and federal research money to unravel the mystery of the disease and find a cure 

AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power (ACT UP)

• quickly won wide public attention after 1987

• With trademark slogans like "No Business as Usual" and "Silence = Death," its members mounted a series of imaginative, dramatic, and militant demonstrations 

Afrocentric feminist thought portrays black women as:

• self-defined

• self-reliant

• as confronting racial, gender, and class oppression simultaneously

• speaking to the importance that knowledge plays in empowering oppressed peoples

Primary distinguishing feature of Black feminist thought

both the reformed consciousness of individuals and the social transformation of political and economic institutions are essential ingredients for social change 

Black feminist’s critiques of Black culture and its traditions

• The fostering of early motherhood among adolescent girls 

• Lack of self-actualization that may accompany the double-day of paid employment and domestic labor 

• Emotional and physical abuse from fathers, lovers, and husbands 

Outsider-within

can make substantial contributions as agents of knowledge, they rarely do so without substantial personal cost 

Black feminist thought as a situated knowledge

embedded in the communities in which Black women find themselves

Black feminist thought as a specialized form of thought

less likely than the specialized knowledge produced by dominant groups to deny the connection between ideas and the vested interests of their creators

Black feminist thought as a subjugated knowledge

not exempt from critical analysis 

Black feminist thought as a partial perspective

The matrix of domination houses multiple groups, each with varying experiences that produce corresponding partial perspectives, situated knowledges, and subjugated knowledges 

• No one group has a clear angle of vision 

• No one group can proclaim its theories and methodologies as the universal norm 

Feminism

an analysis/critique of differential power relationships focused on intersectional axes of difference, including gender, sexuality, race, ethnicity, class, ability, etc.

Feminism’s primary concerns

1. women’s lack of equality with men

2. the eradication of gender oppression

First-wave US Feminism

(1848-1920): women's suffrage movement 

• Culminated in the ratification of the 19^th amendment in 1920 

Second-wave US Feminism

(1960-1990): women's liberation movement, primarily of the 1960s and 1970s when women, already granted with the right to vote, advocated for their full social and economic equality with men

Liberal Feminism

advocates for women's equality with men through policy change at the juridical/governmental level 

• Often uses men and masculinity as a benchmark for equality at the expense of devaluing traditional feminine roles 

Cultural/difference/standpoint feminism

belief that women are biologically, psychologically, and spiritually different than men

• Privileges females and femininity to counteract years of marginalization and disparagement under patriarchy  

• Critiqued as homogenizing women as a monolithic group 

Third-wave US Feminism

(1990-?): an intersectional approach to identity that acknowledges multiple, interdependent modes of human subjectivity and promotes diversity  

• Third-wave feminists advocate for all individuals' access to the wide spectrum of gendered identities and work to validate all forms of gender expression 

Postfeminism

a largely consumer-based movement that assumes the battles for gender equality have been fought and won 

Fourth-wave US Feminism

emphases on social justice and opposition to sexual harassment/violence against women 

• Defined by technology, specifically social media 

Critiques of “hegemonic feminism”

• White-led 

• Marginalizes the activism and world views of women of color 

• Mainly US-based 

• Treats sexism as the ultimate form of oppression  

  • Deemphasizes or altogether ignores critical analyses of class and race 

• Typically sees equality with men as the endgame of feminism 

• Has an individual rights-based, rather than justice-based, vision for social change 

Multiracial feminism

• Liberation movement spearheaded by US women of color in the 1970s 

• Characterized by an international perspective, attention to interlocking/intersectional oppressions, and support for coalition politics 

Women of color’s involvement in feminism in the 1970s

• Working within white-dominated feminist groups  

• Forming women's caucuses in existing mixed-gender organizations 

• Developing autonomous Black, Latino, Native American, Asian, etc. feminist organizations 

Women of All Red Nations (WARN)

Best-known Native American women's organization of the 1970s

National Black Feminist Organization (NBFO)

Best-known Black feminist organization of the early 1970s

Principles of multiracial feminism

• Don't expect women of color to be your educators/to do all the bridge work 

• Don't lump African American, Latino, Asian American, Native American, etc. women into one category 

  • Rejection of monolithic "women of color" 

• Listen to women of color's anger 

• White women: look to your own history for signs of heresy and rebellion 

• The personal is political & the political is personal

Trends in 1990s US TV

• Genre blending 

• Postmodern aesthetics/sensibilities 

• Mixed ensemble casts vis-a-vis race, gender, sexuality, etc.  

LGBTQ+ images on TV pre-1990s

• Limited to TV movies or guest roles on series 

• Homosexuality became an issue/problem to be resolved 

• Gay/lesbian desire or sex never depicted 

Pedro Zamora

• First HIV+ person on The Real World (1994) 

• Used opportunity to educate US public about HIV/AIDS 

• Passed away the week that his season premiered 

Big 3’s prime-time share in the 1979-1980 season

90% of primetime audiences

Most visible new programming trends in the 1990s

• Sex/sexuality 

• Nudity 

• Violence 

• Risque language 

• Cutting-edge/cinematic visual style 

Ellen’s coming out as a sign of progress

• Of Americans' tolerance for media representations of homosexuality 

• Of network television's willingness to break the sexuality barrier by broadcasting a sitcom with a gay lead character 

• Of Hollywood's embrace of an openly gay actress 

Intersexuality

Variations on standard organizations of human reproductive anatomy 

Morphology

The shape of the body that we typically associate with being a particular gender 

Secondary sex characteristics

Physical traits (part of morphology) that are associated with genetic sex/reproductive potential 

gender

The social organization of different kinds of bodies into different categories of people 

Gender roles

Social expectations of proper behavior and activities for a member of a particular gender 

Gender comportment

Bodily actions that gender us (e.g., how we use our voices, cross our legs, hold our heads, wear our clothes, dance around the room, throw a ball, walk in high heels, etc.) 

Gender identity

Each person's subjective sense of fit within a particular gender category (or not) 

Gender dysphoria

Feelings of distress or unease about the incongruence between the gender-signifying parts of one's body, one's gender identity, and one's social gender 

Sexuality

What we find erotic/how we take pleasure in our bodies 

Transgender

Refers generally to all kinds of variation from gender norms and expectations 

U.S. women’s rights advocates formally initiated second wave feminism when they founded what organization in 1966?

National Organization for Women (NOW)

In “Maude’s Dilemma,” Maude Findlay and her family live in what U.S. state, one of the earliest adopters of reformed reproductive rights laws?

New York

In Julia, what was the profession of the title character?

A nurse

In the episode of Julia assigned for class, what holiday precipitates the main conversation regarding race?

Christmas

Coming of age in the post-pill, sexually permissive climate of the __________, most American women had experienced the sexual revolution firsthand and found it lacking.

1960s

Which of the following is true of the relationship between feminism and reproductive rights in mid-20^th-century America?

• feminists recognized the pivotal position that women’s reproductive role occupied in the structure of gender oppression

• absolute control of fertility was critical if women were to attain full equality

• despite the negative sexual epithets that were often thrown at them, women’s lib was not “antisexual”

Gender displacement, as described by Carol Clover, can provide a kind of identification buffer that permits audiences of __________ to explore taboo subjects in the relative safety of vicariousness.

Horror films

An intersectional approach to identity that acknowledges multiple, interdependent modes of human subjectivity and promotes diversity is characteristic of the __________ of American feminism.

Third wave

According to B. Ruby Rich, New Queer Cinema coalesced most noticeably during the __________ Film Festival in 1991, with major accolades won by Todd Haynes’ Poison and Jennie Livingston’s Paris is Burning

Sundance

Which of the following screen genres are described by Linda Williams as body genres?

Horror, melodrama, and pornography

For __________, the distinguishing feature of black feminist thought is the assertion that both the reformed consciousness of individuals and the social transformation of political and economic institutions are essential ingredients for social change.

Patricia Hill Collins

As described by Clover, which of the following is a distinguishing feature of the modern slasher film’s Final Girl?

Sexual reluctance

The murder of ____________________ is revealed toward the conclusion of Paris is Burning

Venus Xtravaganza

Many New Queer Cinema filmmakers were heavily influenced by the U.S. government’s lack of response to the crisis of HIV/AIDS primarily during the __________

1980s

In the episode of Will & Grace’s revival screened in class, Jack’s __________ is sent to a gay conversion therapy camp

Grandson

During the rise of niche marketing, most noticeably during the __________, the targeted 18-to-34-year-old demographic became the most specific gold standard for advertisers to reach.

1990s

In the episode of Will & Grace’s revival screened in class, which of the following celebrities has a cameo as a conversion therapy camp counselor?

Jane Lynch