For my final paper in seminar I wrote about gender inequality in film. For this bridge project we chose a work of art thats theme fit with our topic for our seminar project. We were encouraged to identify three terms in the work of art we picked and then add two of our own that we would emphasize in our work. I chose to work with David Lynch’s ‘Twin Peaks’. David Lynch does a remarkable job of creating female protagonists for his films. However, they are almost always enter-twined in a male dominate story line. My five terms are listed below, the ones in bold are meant to be emphasized in my re-working of the piece.
- Subdued vs. Exaggerated
- Interaction
- Intrigue
- Feminine Voice
- Deconstruct
Exposing more of a feminine voice was important to me. I decided to pick a pivotal scene in the series, that included just two women speaking to one another. I was inspired by The Bechdel Test, which challenges a film to have at least on scene with just two women in it, who are named while speaking to one another about something other than a man. Nearly half of hollywood films fail this. I decided to eliminate all male presence from the scene. This began with me silencing the video and adding captions. However, that felt awkward and confusing. As I reworked the piece more I felt that replacing bits where references to men were with outside sources would better deconstruct whats happening. These outside source imagery either literally or abstractly did so. Each outside source imagery was carefully picked to flow along with Lynch’s aesthetic. I presented the script next to the video. The script showed lines that were blacked out. These were the parts where men were previously referenced. The blocking out created a sense of censorship, meant to be ironic since so many females are censored in media. Script
This class really challenged me. Throughout the course I struggled and felt incredibly blocked. However, this final project felt freeing. I am proud to say I created something I like. This class has helped me realize my strengths and weaknesses. Specifically, this final project has enabled me to come to the realization that film is my preferred medium. In the future I would like to explore both writing and film editing more.
