Feminism!

Feminism is a diverse collection of social theories, political movements and moral philosophies, largely motivated by or concerned with the experiences of women.

Feminism - Equal rights to both men and women.

First-Wave Feminism - During the nineteenth century and early twentieth century in the United Kingdom and the United States. It primarily focused on gaining the right of women's suffrage. The term, "first-wave," was coined retroactively after the term second-wave feminsim began to be used to describe a newer feminist movement - being able to vote.

Second-Wave Feminism - A feminst activity which began during the early 1960s. It was largely concerned with other issues of equality ranging from the economic to the reproductive of women and to improve womens rights on the political side.

Third-Wave Feminism - Began in the early 1990s. Third-wave feminism seeks to challenge or avoid the second wave's "essentialist" definitions of femininity. It largely focuses on the inclusion of women in traditionally male dominated area's.

Feminism is very important to my independent study, as women are represented as powerful and dominant rather than a male. Kill Bill and many other films, challenges the traditions of actions films having a male dominant/protagonist character. The audience may be thrown of balance while watching Kill Bill as they usually see a male as the protagonist, but however this is not the case: As Uma Thurman is a strong headed, powerful and dominant character. This may seem to shock the audience as they usually identify the protagonist to be a male.

del.icio.us Links

http://www.bfi.org.uk/filmtvinfo/library/publications/16+/strongwomen.html
This is going to be relavent because it talks about ‘strong women’, such as Charlies Angels’, which is one of the text i am going to refer to.

http://mediaknowall.com/gender.html
This website talks about the representation of both men and women, as my independent study focuses on how women, esp how Uma Thurman is represented.

http://cbjuicyfruity.blogspot.com/
This is Charanpal’s independent study on Kill Bill, which will help me to write my own independent study.

http://www.rishikillbill.blogspot.com/
This is Rishi's independent study which is also on Kil Bill and focuses on the representation of women aswell, which will be very helpful to me.

http://www.aber.ac.uk/media/Documents/gaze/gaze09.html
This website talks about Laura Mulvey and the male gaze which is very important for my independent study, as men gaze upon Uma Thurman in Kill Bill.

http://www.aber.ac.uk/media/Students/hzi9401.html
This is a link about the portrayal of women. This tag is useful as it talks about how women are being oppressed by men in society.

http://www.theory.org.uk/giddens.htm
This talks link about how gender is represented in society today.

http://bananaboijohn.blogspot.com/
This link is helpful, as he talks about how womens representation has changed, which links to my independent study.

http://marlowmedia.co.uk/
This link talks about gender equality.

To What Extent Are Women Dominant & Independent?

Women’s representation in the media tend to revolve around the focus on physical beauty. However, women are often represented as being the victim or lover or being part of a context (family, friends and colleagues).

But, to what extent are they dominant and independent? Leading females are represented differently when directed by a male or a female director.

For instance, ‘Kill Bill: Volume Two’ (2004) has a male director Quentin Tarantino. This shows even though Uma Thurman was the protagonist in ‘Kill Bill’ she was still however acting on what Tarantino had wrote, this shows how a male is still dominating the film. However, women do have more power than before.

Key Words

Art House - A cinematic production generated by aesthetic and cultural production values rather than commercial consideration.

I wasn't too sure whether i could clearify Kill Bill in the art house genre, but it does have some aspects of a art house film.

Binary Opposition - A term used by Claude Levi-Strauss as part of his agrument that narrative are structured around oppositional elements in human culture, for example, good and evil, life and death, night and day, raw and cooked.

Normally, the dominant character in a action movie tends to be a male, and women tend to be passive and damsel in distress. However, in Kill Bill Uma Thurman is the dominant and main character, as you would expect the hero to be a man instead of a woman.

Feminism - Political movement to advance the status of women by challenging values, social constructions and socioeconomic practices which disadvantage women and favour men.

Kill Bill deals with feminism as women are shown as independent and with a higher status which is what feminst want to achieve: equal rights for women.

Male Gaze - The term used by Laura Mulvey in her essay 'Visual Pleasures and Narrative Cinema' (1975) to describe what she saw as the male point of view adopted by the cinema for the benefit of an assumed male audience.

Males find Uma Thurman attractive and would gaze upon her, as they may find watching a smart, attractive and desirable women in control appealing.

Hero - The principal male or female protagonist in any narrative, with whom the audience identifies and who exhibits moral virtues in line with dominant ideology.

The hero is an very important topic in Kill Bill as you tend to find men to be the hero/protagonist, however in Kill Bill its a women and the wudience are thrown off balance and shocked to see a women in power and a hero.

Subversive - Undermining of dominant idoelogy and values.

Kill Bill is challenging stereotype of men being dominant and in control, as Uma Thurman is dominant throughtout the film, as she takes her revenge.

Symbol - A sign that bears no obvious visual relation to what it represents.

In Kill Bill Uma Thurman uses a sword to show how powerful and controlling she is.

Miramax - A film corporation founded by Harvey and Bob Weinstein in 1979, under the ownership of Wlat Disney Studio Entertainment from 1993.

Miramax are the institution thet helped create Kill Bill, as Kill Bill does have a art house feel, as it does use some of the conventions of a arti house film, such as flashbacks, non linear narrative, etc...

Non-Linear narrative - A aequential narrative which doesnt have a striaght beginning, a middle and an end, its interupted with flashbacks, etc...

Tarantino uses a non-linear narrative in Kill Bill, as we see a continuous flashback within both Volume One and Two.

Patriarchy - Male domination of the political, cultural and socioeconmic system.

Kill Bill challenges the patriarchy society, as a male is not the protagonist/dominant character in Kill Bill, and this also occurs in many other films such as' Charlies Angels'

Comments I Have Made On Other Blogs

Navdeep
http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=34031519&postID=115841502304470508

Avinash
http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=34131960&postID=115792775318661338

Heena
http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=31412118&postID=115831139759284131

Dinveer
http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=34065324&postID=115799060927370573

Rishi
http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=34072898&postID=115792677516067717

Trailer

Male Domination In The 1980's

In the 1980's males were dominating and seen were in many actions films such as, 'The Terminator' (1984) by Jamkes Cameron and 'RoboCop' (1987) by Paul Verhoeven. Society was far more 'Patriarchal' and women were not seen to have a higher status than men. The patriarchal society had made it harder for women to achieve leading roles in films. There was hardly any strong female featured in action films. However, society has developed and there are many women that have a leading role in action films, Such as Cat women.

Wider Contexts And Theorists

Social Context: How women are now represented in a more positve way and how society is becoming less patricharcal.

Historical Context: Women were seen more fragile and were not seen as important as men.

Economic Context: Miramax usually help to produce art house films and in this way Kill Bill was recognised.

Political Context: Shows how women have moved and gained equal opportunites as men. They becoming more dominant and controling.

Theorists:
Laura Mulvey-
Her theory is that women and men both gaze upon each other in sexual context. What May attract the men is Uma Thurman in Kill Bill, as some men might find it attractive to have a controling and attractive female protagonist in a film.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laura_Mulvey
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Male_gaze

Levi Strauss-
Normally it is a male who is a dominant character and women tend to be passive and damsel in distress. However, in Kill Bill Uma Thurman is the dominant and main character, as you would expect the hero to be a man instead of a woman.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Levi_Strauss

Feminsim- Females are now more independent and equal, esp in the film industry today, many films such as 'Charlies Angels' and 'Kill Bill' are being released, where women are shown with more or equal power as men.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feminism

Feminist film theory- discussions of the function of women characters in particular film narratives.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feminist_film_theory

Review From Rotten Tomatoes

By John Anderson

Honeymoon killer: Having dispatched most of her would-be assassins, The Bride now gets to throw the razor-studded bouquet. Electrifying, in its rhythms and tension and its sense of cinema. With Uma Thurman, David Carradine, Michael Madsen, Daryl Hannah, Gordon Liu. Written and directed by Quentin Taran.tino. 2:20 (gore, violence, vulgarity, adult content, live burial). At area theaters.You learn a few things from "Kill Bill: Vol. 2," the second half of Quentin Tarantino's ultra-violent revenge thriller and a film of stunning virtuosity and emotional clout. For one thing, did you know that if you close your eyes, Michael Madsen sounds exactly like Nick Nolte? More significantly, "Kill Bill" was never going to be one movie, no matter what Miramax or Tarantino claimed last year. And most interestingly, it seems that when a two-part movie does arrive, even as fraternal twins, one sibling can make the other look even better than it did on its own.

For all its balletic butchery and virtuoso Hong Kong-inspired choreography, "Kill Bill: Vol. 1" seemed a less-than-substantial piece of work from a director as lauded as Tarantino. (The film was heralded in its own credits as "The Fourth Film by Quentin Tarantino ... ." as if we should be grateful.) But in light of "Vol. 2," the first "Kill Bill" takes on a grandeur it initially lacked. The second film makes the first one better -- this despite the fact that the two movies together reverse the standard one-two combination of traditional melodrama; the real orgy of violence was concluded before the heart of the story had been established.

Yet the technique works remarkably well. Much of this success has to do with what we already know. In "Vol. 2," when Uma Thurman's Bride is visited at her wedding rehearsal by Bill (David Carradine, every crag in his face a monument in John Ford-inspired black and white), the terror is palpable. We know, and she doesn't, that the happy afternoon is going to end in slaughter. But they speak and they speak (it's a daring move to start what is ostensibly an action movie with 15 minutes of dialogue), but we're drawn into the rhythm because we know where it's going, and that it won't be going well.This is all flashback, as is the terrific episode in which The Bride -- OK, she has a real name, Beatrix Kiddo -- is trained in kung fu by the imperious Pai Mei (the wonderful Gordon Liu).

Thurman and her nemesis, played by Daryl Hannah, also have a brutal, gloriously violent battle, which ends with perhaps the grossest thing Tarantino has ever committed to film. Madsen, playing the aptly named Budd, thinks he's taken care of the Beatrix problem for his brother by burying her alive. But even this does not deter Beatrix from her mission to Kill Bill.It's a powerhouse movie, one that draws on a variety of cinematic tropes for its look and feel and perhaps the co-opted muscle of certain borrowed sources -- a Tarantino film wouldn't be one without at least some of his encyclopedic video-geekiness finding its way onto the screen. But at the same time, "Kill Bill: Vol. 2" feels totally original. It validates the other half of the story. And it may even prove that Quentin Tarantino is as good a director as he has so long been purported to be.

http://www.newsday.com/entertainment/movies/ny-killbill2-movie,0,5136424.story?coll=ny-movies-bigpix

Representation Of Women In The Media

Representations of women across all media tend to highlight the following:

· beauty
· size/physique
· sexual/fragile
· emotional dealings
· relationships

However, this has now changed as women are proving they are just as equal to men and take the same roles men do, because Kill Bill Uma Thurman is represented as a hero/protagonist and is in control, as women tend to be represented as femme-fatal or a damsel in distress. Uma Thurman breaks this tradition of women just as the 'propp' of a film. However, Kill Bill isnt the only film that represents women powerful also films such as 'Charlies Angels'.

http://www.mediaknowall.com/gender.html

M.i.g.r.a.i.n Notes

Media Language
Use of black and white, different shots throughout, black outs-creating enigmas, its fast paced, uses her sword to show how much power she has, use of chapters, dramatic music used.

Institutions
The institutions for 'Kill Bill Volume Two' is Miramax Institutions. They are a very well known instituions and have produced many successful films such as 'Chiago' and 'Pulp Fiction'.

Genre
The genre for Kill Bill is action. It can also be classified into to many other genre's, drama, and thriller. However, its not your average action film as you would stereotypically expect a male to be killing and avenging people, but its a woman instead. The audience are in shock and thrown of balance as they are watching something that they did not expect, as it not very often they see a woman in control, there are some films where a women has more control over men, for instance 'Charlies Angles'.

Representation
In the text Uma Thurman is represented as powerful, dominant and in control. Men are shown to have less control compared to other actions films where u would expect to see the man as the main character. However, even though the main character is white we also have ethnic minorities represented as well. Vivica A. Fox ‘Vernita Green’ a black woman is represented as powerful and superior. Women are represented with much more power and independence today, they prove that woman can just as much can do the same as men.

Audience
The main target audience for this text would be the middle class, ages 18-27. Males and females would be the target to this text. It is targeted at males because of the genre, action. Also, because of the main character Uma Thurman, as they feel attracted to her. However, females also feel they can relate to main character as she is a female who has more power then men: they feel they are just as good as men and have the same control.

Values and Ideology
Actions films are usually a male based film however Uma Thurman breaks the action ideology, as women have the upper hand and represented as strong and more control. She sends a positive message across proving that women are just as better as men and there is less of the patricharcal society. However, even though Uma Thurman shows a independent strong female, she is directed by a male director Quentin Tarantino. It is likely that male directors portray women characters different from how women directors portray women characters, simply because it’s harder for them to relate to the characters.

Narrative
The narrative has chapters which are spread in a two part series, Kill Bill volume One and Kill Bill Volume Two. Kill Bill is divided into ten chapters, five chapters per volume. As is common in Tarantino films, they are not arranged in chronological order.

The Bride" (Uma Thurman) was the deadliest assassin of the Deadly Viper Assassination Squad, until the day she decided to leave the business, and assume a new identity and get married. But it was on the day of her marriage that her old "friends" - O-Ren Ishii (Lucy Liu), Vernita Green (Vivica A. Fox), Budd (Michael Madsen), and Elle Driver (Daryl Hannah), and her boss, Bill (David Carradine) - find her and assassinate the entire ceremony while Bill shoots her in the head, putting her in a coma. After four years, the Bride awakens from her coma and starts her revenge.

Media

Women usually tend to be represented as emotional, sexual, beautiful and size/physique. However, in Kill Bill, Uma Thurman [Beatrix Kiddo/The Bride (Black Mamba)] is represented as a strong, dominant and in control. However, can we agrue that this is a fair representation of women? As it is likely that male directors portray women characters different from how women directors portray women characters, simply because it’s harder for them to relate to the characters. So to an extent we can say women are independent, however their are far more independent than before as males were usually associated with the action movie genre, they usually tend to be the protagonist/ hero.

Brief Summary

‘I’m The Deadliest Women In The World’, in particular reference to Kill Bill: Volume Two (2004) by Quentin Tarantino, how have women's roles in action films changed over the recent years?

For my independent study i will be focusing on the representation of women in action films and how they have changed, as we typically associate the male to be the protagonist/dominant figure in the film. My main text i will refer to will be 'Kill Bill Volume Two' (2004) by Quentin Tarantino. I will be also referring to other films such as ', 'Terminater' (1984), 'RoboCop' (1987) and 'Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle' (2003). In all these films women are represented differently, 'Charlie's Angels' women are represented as dominant and in control and however in 'Miami Vice' as men are seen to have more control than women.