Nov 21 2009
What is she doing?
Feminism, as defined by the dictionary, is “the doctrine of advocating social, political, and all other rights of women equal to those of men.” Brooklyn Museum of Art’s participants of the exhibition of “The New Feminist Video” took that notion to a different level.
My first impression, as I walked into the gallery was “what is this?” The first video was that of a woman laboring with boxes. Some sort of crazy.
Then, I walked into more movie “booths.” The most disturbing one was that of a woman blindfolded. At first sight, you couldn’t even tell that she was a woman, to which she even remarked. She said something along the lines of “I was walking down the street today and somebody thought I was a man.” I wonder why…
And here is why: her hair was cut short like a boy’s, and while a short cut is also suitable for women, her cut was styled like a boy’s. She was very flat chested, and wore rugged clothes. And the fact that her eyes were concealed by the band did not do her justice in revealing her real gender.
Not only that, but her behavior was appalling. She was chugging beer, cursing, and smoking cigarettes. It was very un-lady-like of her. But I guess that was the point.
Another screen showed a “before/after” woman. Under the “before” stood a girl with puffed up cheeks, with probably a fat suit on to make her look fat. She was then shown to drink a drink, after which she slimmed down and stood under the “after.” The implications behind this movie were tremendous, as they exposed the pressures women go through to look good. Although the exposure by the film was minimal and comedic (the girl looked ridiculous in what she was wearing) the point was clearly made.
The other movie that really struck me was the one with the girl dropping signs that read “There Are No Happy Endings.” After seeing this I thought – true; yet I couldn’t help being dismissive about the pessimism. However, after watching the film I read the description about it, which indicated that the woman in the film is responding to the mundane storylines put out by Hollywood, which always include a happy ending. After that, I agreed completely, life isn’t always about happy endings, especially not for a woman.
The thing that caught my eye the most about Happy Endings was the fact that the surroundings of the woman holding the papers that said “There are no happy endings” were so peaceful and filled with beauty. The sun was shinning, the river looked nice and clean, and there were tall tress all around, yet she was still so pessimistic.
I know life does not always have happy endings, but I like to think it does, so I really disliked that video. I don’t know if it is just me, but women are usually really optimistic and hope for that happy ending with a family, a big house with a yard, and a cute dog!
Seeing as how I discussed all of this with you while at the exhibit, I feel the need to comment on it as well. I thought the exact same thing as you, until I began reading the descriptions about the videos. The first one wasn’t crazy at all, as was my first impression as well, but rather she was proving that she could do something just as well as anyone else. I actually thought the exhibit, as crazy as it seemed, had some very good messages.