Presentation For Coursework

Presentation

Presentation Script

Opening title screen of powerpoint with presentation title and images of the movie posters (Items 16, 17 and 18)

Speaker: We have seen a massive change in what is perceived as an independent woman in film but have we fully achieved a realistic depiction of an independent woman as a protagonist?

Change to next slide of powerpoint; an image of Marilyn Monroe in How To Marry A Millionaire (Item 19)

Speaker: Going back to the 1930’s, Marilyn Monroe is the kickstarter to sexual imagery in film.

During a time where women were still extremely oppressed, Marilyn Monroe was almost liberating as she brought promiscuity to the screens and “manipulated” men in her films for her benefit. Despite this, in the modern day, her image is now perceived as sexual objectification.

Change to next slide of powerpoint; quote “"I think Marilyn would be stunned to see how people have reinterpreted her life since she died," says Nancy Friday, author of My Mother, Myself and The Power of Beauty.” (Item 13)

Speaker: As we can see from this quote, Monroe is obviously not who all women want to be anymore. Thinking of a typical housewife in America, you would think that a woman who was portrayed to control men would be desired for a wife that is the property of her husband. We can see these desired traits in How To Marry A Millionaire. Monroe’s character, Pola, and her friends all try to seek out a millionaire that they can marry by means of seduction. Comparing a 1930’s opinion of this concept to that of a modern day opinion would be complete opposites. From this we can see how independance for women has evolved.

Change to next slide of powerpoint; movie poster for Kill Bill Vol. 1 (Item 17)

Speaker: Moving forward from the 1930’s, the early 2000’s came with a mixed portrayal of female protagonists. One icon is The Bride in Quentin Tarantino’s Kill Bill. This character and film particularly stands out in the sense of independent women as The Bride intends on killing her ex lover. Strong, violent and clever, these characteristics of a female protagonist breakthrough the norms of most female protagonists. In Volume 1, she is clear on her intent with no barriers that we would typically think of, such as love.

Change to next slide of powerpoint: Image of Uma Therman and quote from Variety article: “Women would come up to me and they would say that somehow or other – they’d share a little bit — that that film helped them in their lives, whether they were feeling oppressed or struggling or had a bad boyfriend or felt badly about themselves, that that film released in them some survival energy that was helpful, and that is probably one of the most gratifying things that I have ever experienced in response to a piece of art,” (Item 6)

Speaker: Uma Therman, explains in a variety article that her role in Kill Bill empowers woman. From the quote (point at quote) the revenge aspect of the film has related to women and provided a release for those stuck in a negative situation.

Speaker: Despite this, there are still opposing views as to whether Kill Bill was a step forward for female protagonists and whether The Bride is a true icon of independence.

Change to next slide of powerpoint; with quote from Aideen Johnston "If he is going to make a film about strong women, why make it so unrealistic?" (Item 4)

Speaker: The unrealistic qualities come from The Bride's physical abilities, the majority of the audience do not know how to wield a samurai sword so looking at this fact we can question whether having an unrealistic image of a woman is effective in creating a strong woman, women can relate to.

Speaker: We can also relate this question to the third film I am going to talk about; Wonder Woman.

Change to next slide of powerpoint; Image of movie poster for Wonder Woman (Item 16)

Speaker: Compared to the other two films that we have previously looked, Wonder Woman was created in a time where feminism and equality are constantly debated. In today's society, people are quick to judge films and whether they are a benefit to women in film.

Speaker: One main way in which Wonder Woman is empowering is the fact that such an incredibly successful film was directed by a woman: Patty Jenkins. Despite this presentation being about the representation of independent women through a protagonist, we can still acknowledge the fact that a film about a strong woman was also directed by a woman. This film particularly stands out as being in the superhero genre, the character of Wonder Woman is completely new, it is almost as if Patty Jenkins introduced women's strong abilities into a genre dominated by men.

Speaker: In the same way that Kill  Bill is criticised for having unrealistic qualities, Wonder Woman's body and outfit are seen as an unrealistic quality. More of a modern day issue, body image now comes into play when talking about who we can look up to. In an article in the metro, the author Theresa Harold says "if being semi-naked is the most practical mode in which to save the world, where is Batman's mankini?", this raises the question is this film really putting women equal to men?

Change to final slide of powerpoint: Images of all three movie posters (Items 16, 17 and 18)

Speaker: The image of an independent woman has changed over the years as we can see. What you think an independent woman is, can be your own opinion, but despite having breakthroughs in film such as Wonder Woman, it is clear that we are still not satisfied with where we have gotten to. As opinions change through the years, will women ever be completely equal to men within the film industry.

Speaker: Thank you for listening.

Bowling For Columbine 2002- Michael Moore

Bowling For Columbine highlights gun culture in America with shocking stories of school shootings in poorer areas of America such as Littleton and Buell. Michael Moore is agitation in his interviews to put who is interviewing on the spot. His clear anger and upset to the heavy gun culture in America is effective in getting across opposing views. 

The tone of the opening is contradicting to the tone of the remainder of the documentary. Michael Moore shows images of an idealistic American life. Using this opening to establish a distorted view of America is instantly contradicted by Moore walking into a bank and asking for a gun. In this scene, Moore is clearly agitational to get his message across that later runs on through the rest of the documentary. Asking questions such as "is it dangerous handing out guns at a bank?" can be seen to raise these questions to the audience rather than the person he asks as their reaction is cut out. 

One scene that can particularly raise questions is when the school shooting is introduced. Footage of bombings in Serbia is shown, a title screen of "1 hour later" is shown than it cuts to cctv footage of the shooting at Columbine High school with 911 call recordings played over it. On one hand this can be seen as Moore highlighting the severity of the shootings and almost comparing the Columbine shootings to the bombings in Syria. On the other hand, it can be interpreted as Moore depicting how violent America is. They are breeding violence not only at home but in other countries. During the footage of Syria being bombed, a Syrian news channel is played highlighting the fact that innocent areas are being bombed such as hospitals. This is another way Moore questions Americas integrity. 

To present opposing views, Michael Moore cuts between a speech from Charlton Heston, who was holding a pro gun rally, and a father of a victim of the Columbine shootings. The editing effectively allows the two views to argue with each other to present the two common views on gun culture in America. Using heartbreaking footage of a father who has lost his son to gun violence and contrasting it with a pro gun who has never been effected by violence and showed up to Columbine 10 days after the shooting causes the audience to favour the father and present Charlton Heston as an evil man. He is clueless and deluded by the idealistic view that is sarcastically highlighted in the opening scene. 

The popular view of blaming rock culture is presented in the documentary. Moore interviews Marilyn Manson in order to enlighten the audience on how this view is wrong. Gaining the opinion of a person who is being blamed for such horrible events and teenagers obsession with gun culture is extremely useful and helps Moore to achieve the purpose of the documentary. Marilyn Manson's mentions what he think causes the violence is America and criticises popular media for brainwashing the population.  he believes that "violence in culture and gun control" are to blame for the increasing violence. In relation to criticising the media he states "keep everyone afraid and they'll consume. 

When Moore visits LA, the issue of race is the topic of discussion. During the opening scenes in La, news casts are edited together to show how the masses are starting to blame "black males". To contradict this Moore, shows the huge gun culture in Canada even though there are minimal killings of people by guns there. He questions if it's America's society that fuels gun violence. 

Paranoia in America is depicted, such as people hiding guns under their pillows and keeping multiple loaded guns in their own homes. This can put the blame on how a six year old picked up a gun from his uncles house and shot a fellow student in his class. This shooting at Buell elementary school was the youngest shooting. The young boys mother was not able to monitor him as she was already working through the welfare to work programme. The welfare to work programme was criticised as it was forcing people to work long hours for low pay 

As a way ton protest against the pro gun culture, Moore took two victims of the Columbine shooting, headed to K-Mart HQ and asked them to stop selling the ammunition that shot them. After being rejected the brought two bags of ammunition and to it to the HQ. This made a difference as they vowed to stop selling ammunition within 90 days. Moore protesting this and gaining a response through his documentary is extremely moving. Being agitational and using victims of the shootings and not giving up can make a difference. 

In the final scenes, Moore finds Charlton Heston on a star map and gets an interview. He highlights the fact that he is a lifelong member of the NRA but is extremely agitational. Heston claims having loaded guns despite the fact he is far away from violence in his house gives him some kind of comfort level. Despite finding this out, he walks away and refuses to answer any question when Moore question why he had pro gun rallys just days after devastating shootings. As a final statement, Moore leaves a picture of the dead six year old on his doorstep, this is effective to the audience as it is forcing them to live with the fact knowing they live in gun culture.