Difference between revisions of "JCM312/Claire Denis (Discussion)"

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(Created page with "http://www.tcf.ua.edu/Classes/Jbutler/T340/Chocolat04.jpg #Considering the sexual politics of the gaze, how does ''Chocolat'' splice the politics of race and colonialism onto it...")
 
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#Considering the sexual politics of the gaze, how does ''Chocolat'' splice the politics of race and colonialism onto it? See [http://www.tcf.ua.edu/EO/DV/Chocolat_DressingScene.php the scene where Protée helps Aimée dress], in particular.
 
#Considering the sexual politics of the gaze, how does ''Chocolat'' splice the politics of race and colonialism onto it? See [http://www.tcf.ua.edu/EO/DV/Chocolat_DressingScene.php the scene where Protée helps Aimée dress], in particular.
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#:How does this fit in with Richard Bjornson's point (quoted by Judith Mayne, 35-6):
 +
#::Regarding Cameroonian author Ferdinand Oyono's novel ''Une vie de boy'' [The Life of a ‘Boy’]: the Europeans "want to regard the houseboy as a 'thing that obeys,' but his potential for unmasking their pretensions makes them fear that he is actually a 'person who sees.'"
 +
#:Mayne also writes, "Where ''Chocolat'' departs from those cliches [about colonial Africa] is in its refusal to grant the fulfillment of the sexual wish.... Their [the colonial wives] objectification of black men is obvious [when they talk about how handsome Protée is], but it also speaks to '''one of the key elements of virtually all of Denis's work''': objectification is one of the ways in which people engage with their own situations, and for white women who function as wives and mothers in contexts that are isolating, fantasies about African men are one of the ways in which they attempt to create a world of their own." (39-40)
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#::Are African men objectified? Are white women?
 +
#::How would the film have been different if Protée had given in to Aimee's advances?
 
#Just because a film is made by a woman does not mean it will necessarily be feminist. Do you think that ''Chocolat'' is pro-feminist? Why or why not?
 
#Just because a film is made by a woman does not mean it will necessarily be feminist. Do you think that ''Chocolat'' is pro-feminist? Why or why not?
 
#If, indeed, it is a feminist film, into which category does it fit? (These categories may overlap.)
 
#If, indeed, it is a feminist film, into which category does it fit? (These categories may overlap.)
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##Socialist Realist
 
##Socialist Realist
 
##Women's cinema as counter cinema  
 
##Women's cinema as counter cinema  
 
==Mayne on Denis==
 
  
 
==Bibliography==
 
==Bibliography==

Revision as of 15:30, 16 November 2010

http://www.tcf.ua.edu/Classes/Jbutler/T340/Chocolat04.jpg

  1. Considering the sexual politics of the gaze, how does Chocolat splice the politics of race and colonialism onto it? See the scene where Protée helps Aimée dress, in particular.
    How does this fit in with Richard Bjornson's point (quoted by Judith Mayne, 35-6):
    Regarding Cameroonian author Ferdinand Oyono's novel Une vie de boy [The Life of a ‘Boy’]: the Europeans "want to regard the houseboy as a 'thing that obeys,' but his potential for unmasking their pretensions makes them fear that he is actually a 'person who sees.'"
    Mayne also writes, "Where Chocolat departs from those cliches [about colonial Africa] is in its refusal to grant the fulfillment of the sexual wish.... Their [the colonial wives] objectification of black men is obvious [when they talk about how handsome Protée is], but it also speaks to one of the key elements of virtually all of Denis's work: objectification is one of the ways in which people engage with their own situations, and for white women who function as wives and mothers in contexts that are isolating, fantasies about African men are one of the ways in which they attempt to create a world of their own." (39-40)
    Are African men objectified? Are white women?
    How would the film have been different if Protée had given in to Aimee's advances?
  2. Just because a film is made by a woman does not mean it will necessarily be feminist. Do you think that Chocolat is pro-feminist? Why or why not?
  3. If, indeed, it is a feminist film, into which category does it fit? (These categories may overlap.)
    1. Documentary
    2. Socialist Realist
    3. Women's cinema as counter cinema

Bibliography

  • Mayne, Judith. Claire Denis (Urbana, IL: University of Illinois Press, 2005), pp. 33-48.
  • Kuhn, Annette. Women's Pictures: Feminism and Cinema. Boston: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1982.

External links