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Join a discussion about one of our films or leave a general comment.
Recent Posts
Recent comment on Every Third Bite:
Hello,
Thank you for doing this film. I am a backyard beekeeper in Orange county, California. We've started a group called BackyardBkeepers and we have been rescuing hives around the city that people want to get rid of but do not want to harm. We have 20 hives around the county of orange. People need this info about bees. We have been giving bee talks in school classrooms and public libraries. I have been keeping a video and picture documentary of our rescues. You have inspired me! inspiring video.
Posted by Kelly Yrarrazaval
Recent comment on Tyttonen (The Young Girl):
Wonderful story and visual representation. Very touching! Brings empathy for those who are in their later years.
Thank you for sharing!
Posted by QuiQue
Recent comment on Slip of the Tongue:
Rick:
The only thing “whiny and silly” is your refusal (or inability) to look honestly and critically at this piece. This film is NOT contradictory. It is embarrassing that you have reduced the piece to something so superficial and openly minimized its critique on mainstream culture.
First, the ‘young’ man in the film is trying to keep a conversation going, I’ll agree with you up to here. You should keep in mind, despite his attempt to move beyond traditional ways to acknowledge and talk to women, he proceeds to engage in mainstream definitions of masculinity (as depicted in the initial sequence of him “personify[ing] a wanna-be shot caller”, etc.). This is in and of itself is a critique of male masculinity and the way that men in society see and address themselves.
As for the initial pick up line : ‘girl you must be a parking ticket because you got fine written all over you’ , is another way of failing to recognize and appreciate women as WOMEN or, better yet, HUMAN BEINGS. I don’t care how innocent, cute, flattering or witty these ‘pick-up’ lines are; the fact of the matter is that they continue to objectify women and reduce them to a PHYSICAL notion of what beauty is. A parking ticket, let’s think about this for a moment. A parking ticket, conventionally, makes money for the city and is a pain in the ass for anyone who receives one, right? How is this flattering to a woman? ‘You got fine written all over you.’ Again, it is this PHYSICAL definition of “beauty” that the female character later contests and re-defines.
::His problem wasn't a desire to have her conform to some Western standard::
Historically, this is actually the case indeed. This is probably one of the most key parts of the piece. If you missed this, you missed everything. Most women, especially women of color , are continuously pushed to achieve the “Western Standard” of beauty until this day (There is an example of this in this same website http://www.mediathatmattersfest.org/6/ called “Girl Like Me”!). Simultaneously, the fact that this gentleman asks her to answer, “what is your ethnic make-up” is two-fold. One, to ask someone their “ethnicity” is to engage in a historically Eurocentric notion of defining/categorizing people. Second, she uses the term ‘make-up’ as play on words to challenge the way women of color are (have been) colonized to bleach their skin, hair, etc. AND to challenge conventional notions of PHYSCIAL beauty. So, it goes without saying that women of color are being oppressed by whiteness and by patriarchy.
Far from “victim silliness”, the woman in this piece expresses clear agency. While acknowledging her position as ‘victim’ to a system that continues to push women to be second to men and incentivise euro-centric beauty, the female character is aware of these oppressions and clearly expresses her discontent by, ultimately, walking away.
I’ll stop here.
Posted by Alfredo
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