sex roles • education • media • beauty and fashion • advertising • pornography • consumer culture • language • creating new images
WORLDWIDE
Footbinding
Film, 16 mm, 6 min., b/w, in English
Made by Laurie Meeker
Distributor: Women in Focus Arts and Media Centre (Canada)
This film combines a reenactment of the footbinding ritual with historical stills and contemporary footage to explore the dynamics that force women to accept male-defined standards of beauty across historical and cultural boundaries. It makes a connection between the onetime mutilation of Chinese women's feet and similar painful or damaging grooming processes today.
Focus on Women (India, Egypt, Dominican Republic)
Film, 16 mm, 28 min., color, in English, Spanish and French
Made by the Department of Public Information, United Nations
Distributor: University of Illinois Film Center or UN Information Center (USA) or Marlin Motion Pictures, Ltd. (Canada)
This film examines images of women in the media and looks at the part women play in determining that image. The dependent, submissive heroine of the Indian cinema shows signs of becoming more independent as young Indian women technicians challenge the male-dominated film industry. However, this has had a limited effect on the traditional image of women as being interested mainly in fashion, cooking and childbearing. In contrast, a low-budget television show in the Dominican Republic stresses the achievements of low-income and rural women whose actions affect the future of their communities.
Education for Liberation or Domestication? Women and Education in the Third World (England)
Slideshow, 20 min., color, in English
Made by World University Service
Distributor: World University Service (WUS) and the Women, Education and Development Campaign (England)
The slideshow presentation looks at the impact of the western concept of education on women in the Third World and suggests some alternatives to it. The slides show women from many different Third World countries, while the accompanying narrative focuses on specific groups. The central aim of the slideshow is to distinguish those problems which are created by an imposed educational model from those which arise from women's own experiences and needs.
ASIA
Struggle for a Just Portrayal/Sugar 'n' Spice (India)
First in an eight-part series
Slideshow, color, in Hindi and English
Made by Sujata Madhok and Prabha Krishnan
Distributor: Sujata Madhok and Praba Krishnan (India)
This slideshow looks at media messages that aim to socialize little girls to become archetypal females and boys to become archetypal males.
Struggle for a Just Portrayal/Kid Stuff (India)
Second in an eight-part series
Slideshow, color, in Hindi and English
Made by Sujata Madhok and Prabha Krishnan
Distributor: Sujata Madhok and Prabha Krishnan (India)
Children consume society's messages in a variety of ways - through comics, fairy tales, science fiction, television. Since all these messages are mediated by adults, parents and teachers, they speak to children of the way the world is and will be. Where do women figure in this world?
Struggle for a Just Portrayal/Utsav of Beauty (India)
Third in an eight-part series
Slideshow, color, in Hindi and English
Made by Sujata Madhok and Prabha Krishnan
Distributor: Sujata Madhok and Prabha Krishnan (India)
Female beauty, always celebrated, seems now to be required for several jobs and vocations. The government of India appears to recognize this as a fact of our times. Yet how empowering is this ethic of beauty for women?
Struggle for a Just Portrayal/Ad Man, Added Burden (India)
Fourth in an eight-part series
Slideshow, color, in Hindi and English
Made by Sujata Madhok and Prabha Krishnan
Distributor: Sujata Madhok and Prabha Krishnan (India)
It is bad enough when advertisements entrench negative stereotypes that work against women. It is much worse when through the use of glamorous images they peddle male dominance, dowries, women as willing victims, and the like.
Struggle for a Just Portrayal/Women in the Development Process: Media Perceptions (India)
Fifth in an eight-part series
Slideshow, color, in Hindi and English
Made by Sujata Madhok and Prabha Krishnan
Distributor: Sujata Madhok and Prabha Krishnan (India)
Most women live in households. This unit is the center of four functions - production, consumption, reproduction and socialization. Yet through media images we get the impression that women, while they act as consumers, reproducers and socializers, are not producers. How just is this perception?
Struggle for a Just Portrayal/Invisible Women (India)
Sixth in an eight-part series
Slideshow, color, in Hindi and English
Made by Sujata Madhok and Prabha Krishnan
Distributor: Sujata Madhok and Prabha Krishnan (India)
Women are all-pervasive in media - and very visible too. Draped on computer terminals, car bonnets, in the culture pages and crime columns, women help sell products and the media itself. Yet we need to analyze the quality of their presence in media - how reflective is it of reality?
Struggle for a Just Portrayal/First Lady, Second Citizen (India)
Seventh in an eight-part series
Slideshow, color, in Hindi and English
Made by Sujata Madhok and Prabha Krishnan
Distributor: Sujata Madhok and Prabha Krishnan (India)
Do women have a place in the political process? Who are the women who represent their sex in the parliament and state legislatures? How does the media perceive them? What are the women's issues that are raised during elections?
Struggle for a Just Portrayal/Left-Over Orange Peels (India)
Last in an eight-part series
Slideshow, color, in Hindi and English
Distributor: Suhata Madhok and Prabha Krishnan (India)
Magazines meant predominantly for women flourish in every language today. The newer ones disdain to offer advice on what to do with left-over orange peel and such domestic trivia. We do indeed seem to have magazines which are more relevant, more conscious of women's concerns. How helpful are they to women struggling to establish an identity for themselves?
Some Chinese Women Told Us (1981)
Video, 80 min., color, in English
Distributor: National Film Board of Canada (Canada)
Gives a glimpse of what is to be a woman and a worker in the People's Republic of China. A team of seven women who work loading and unloading trains at Wuchang station are questioned on their attitudes toward make-up, beauty, and the like and talk about their past lives.
Women Pioneers/Status of Japanese Women (Japan 1976)
First in a ten-part series
Video, U-matic, 25 min., color, in Japanese, Chinese and English
Director: Haruko K. Watanabe
Producer: HKW Video Workshop
Distributor: HKW Video Workshop (Japan)
Yoko Nuita, the first woman news commentator in Japan and the cofounder of the Y-H Kasei Fund, discusses the status of women in Japan. She indicates three problems Japanese women have in obtaining equal rights: a lack of social services, lack of confidence and the stereotypes of women in Japan. The key to solving these problems, she says, is education. Japanese women must change education itself - both the system and the concept.
Women in Asian Development (Canada)
Slideshow, 27 min., in English
Made by YWCA Canada
Distributor: YWCA of Canada Resource Centre (Canada)
This slideshow describes how Asian women were traditionally portrayed in ancient literature and painting. It also refers to conditions for women in China before and after the Chinese Revolution, with a section on Asian women's health and nutrition and their role in family life and education.
Pakistani Women (Pakistan 1980)
Slideshow, 35 mm, in English
Made by Linda Mather
Distributor: Linda Mather (USA)
This slideshow interprets the way Pakistani women dress - in baggy concealing clothes - as an indication of the restrictive society they live in. Mather sees the way people dress as an statement about their culture.
AUSTRALIA AND THE PACIFIC
The Selling of the Female Image (Australia 1977)
Film, 16 mm, 9 min., color, in English
Made by Carole Kostanich
Distributor: Sydney Filmmakers Cooperative (Australia)
A study of the image of women as they are commonly depicted in commercial advertising and day-time television. Revealed are the types of stereotypes that the conventional media assign to women, such as young, beautiful and sexy, or middle-aged, neurotic and anxiety-stricken. The film is designed to raise questions and stimulate discussions about media, advertising, women and their role in society.
Size 10 (Australia 1978)
Film, 16 mm, 20 min., color, in English
Made by Susan Lambert and Sarah Gibson
Distributor: Iris Feminist Collective (USA)
Four young women confront and reject the popular glorification of the "perfect size ten woman." The film shows how women's body image has been formed and deformed by advertising and sexism. It criticizes the oppressive messages that alienate us from our bodies and each other - telling us that we are too fat, too hairy, too tall. Useful for women of all ages, including teenagers.
EUROPE
LEARNING/UNLEARNING SEX ROLES
Schrei Lauter! (Austria)
(Cry Louder)
Film, 16 mm, 18 min., color, in German
Made by Margareta Heinrich
Distributor: Filmladen (Austria)
A visual parable about female socialization, this film describes the mechanisms by which society transforms a woman into a "lady."
Taught to Be Girls (England 1979)
Film, 16 mm, 15 min., color, in English
Made by Melanie Chait and Mari Peacock
Distributor: Cinema of Women (England)
This film shows the ways in which stereotyped roles are forced on school girls by the educational system and how girls are getting together to challenge this. Using a play written and acted by 14-year-olds, the film shows that by taking group action girls have the potential to confront sexism and take control of their lives.
Soho (England 1980)
Film, 16 mm, 20 min., color, in English
Made by Jan Matthew
Distributor: Cinema of Women (England)
This film looks at what is hidden. Forty-four percent of the workforce is women but we are not seen as workers, only as commodities. Soho gives us understanding of how images of women are constructed and what effect this has on our lives.
The Decision (England 1981)
Film, 16 mm, 33 min., color, in English
Distributor: Circles-Women's Film and Video Distribution (England)
The Decision is the story of "Any Princess," whose tale is told through a clever and effective mix of live action and animation. Beginning and ending with a story heard on the radio, the film moves through a series of explosive images that explore a whole world ranging from housework to psychoanalysis to production-line society and woman as victim of sexual desire.
S.C.U.M. Manifesto (France 1976)
Video, 1/2 in., 28 min., b/w, in French
Made by Carole Roussopoulos and Delphine Seyrig
Producer: Les Insoumuses
Distributor: Centre Audiovisuel Simone de Beauvoir (France)
An acted-out version of the 1967 book by Valerie Solanas, which challenges the predominance of male images in society and defines virility as a symptom of male powerlessness.
Brujas de Eusral-Herri (Spain 1984)
(The Witches of Eusral-Herri)
Video, 3/4 in., 20 min., color, in Spanish
Made by Victoria Sendon
Distributor: Institute de la Mujer - Taller Audiovisuales (Spain)
Set in Spain, this video combines interviews and documentary footage with dramatized scenes to shed light on the myths and realities of modern day witchcraft.
Smile, Please (England 1982)
Film, 16 mm, 4 min., color, in English
Made by Maya Brandt
Distributor: Cinema of Women (England)
The film is a modern reworking of the "Pygmalion and the Image" theme in glitter. It takes a humorous look at the way women are conditioned by everyone from mummy to ad-man to believe that the most important thing in life is to be beautiful. When the heroine of the film grows up and becomes the beautiful model of her "destiny," she is faced with the contradiction that her beauty is not valid unless it is male-created and defined.
Modeles d'Enfant, Enfants Modeles (France 1976)
(Model Children)
Film, 16 mm, 25 min., b/w, standard optic sound, in French
Made by Cecile Lemoine and Laurence Argier
Distributor: Grain de Sable (France)
This film deals with the way society molds the behavior of little girls between four and eight years of age to fit current stereotypes of femininity, including their words, gestures and attitudes. It takes up the theme of the social reproduction of sexism and the difficulty of changing people's attitudes, particularly about women's double workday inside and outside the home.
Ole Ole... Comincia il Defile (Italy 1980)
(This Way for the Fashion Show)
Video, 1/2 in. (VHS), 30 min., color, in Italian
Made by Rony Daopoulo
Distributor: Gruppo Comunicazione Visiva - Florence (Italy)
A documentary about a spoof fashion show put on by the Italian theater collective "Trousses, merletti, cappucci e cappelliere" (Beauty kits, lace, hoods and hat boxes), this video pokes fun at the gay male community's myths about femininity.
PORNOGRAPHY/MEDIA IMAGES
Watching Looking (England 1980)
Film, 20 min., color, in English
Made by Caroline Sheldon
Distributor: Cinema of Women (England)
This film is about pornography, the way men look at images of women. From an upstairs window, the camera watches a porn shop front and the comings and goings of customers and passers-by, while women's voices talk about the use of pornography as a weapon against women. By focusing on those who look and on the political use of pornography to maintain a woman-hating culture, the film aims to cut through the feelings of powerlessness of women confronted by sadistic and degrading images of ourselves. Pornographic images are absent from the film.
Superman and the Bride (England)
Film, 40 min., color, in English
Made by Thames Television
Distributor: Film Forum (England)
A fast-moving document about the way television reinforces the traditional roles that men and women are expected to play in society. Using clips of films, plays, serials, advertisements, together with cartoons, it shows how the media creates an image of man as assertive and dominant, and of women as weak, decorative and dependent-superman flexing his muscles while woman bakes a cake.
I Fantasmi del Fallo (Italy 1981)
(Ghosts of the Phallus)
Video, 1/2 in., VHS, 60 min., color, in Italian
Made by Annabella Miscuglio, Rony Daopoulo and M.G. Belmonti
Distributor: Gruppo Comunicazione Visiva (Italy)
Shot in a porno film studio, this video documents both how pornographic films are produced and the kind of rituals and fetishes sustained and exploited by the industry, including myths about potency, orgasm and obsessions with genital sex. A disturbing look at both the fantasies of those in charge and the difficult working conditions for both male and female porno actors.
LATIN AMERICA AND THE CARIBBEAN
LEARNING/UNLEARNING SEX ROLES
If You Are a Woman (Mexico 1980)
Animated film, 10 min., in Spanish
Made by Guadalupe Sanchez
Distributor: Cinemien (Netherlands)
This short animated film shows how women are socialized for their traditional roles.
E Menino ou Menina? (Brazil)
(Boy or Girl?)
Film, 16 mm, 17 min., b/w, in Portuguese
Made by Eliane Bandera and Marilia de Andrade
Distributor: Cinema Distribucao Independente (CDI) (Brazil)
This film deals with the sexist stereotypes that society uses to mold the behavior patterns of girls and boys, with an emphasis on developing other, nongender-specific learning patterns that reflect the personality of the individual. It combines footage from everyday life with interviews with psychologists and teachers.
El Hombre Cuando Es Hombre (Costa Rica 1982)
(When Men Are Men)
Film, 63 min.
Made by Valeria Sarmiento
Distributor: Women Make Movies (USA)
A deeply provoking and humorous look at machismo and the role of women in Costa Rica. This documentary juxtaposes men openly discussing how women should behave with old romantic Mexican "ranchera" films. It explores how women are socialized from birth until they marry and become a man's property.
IMAGES AND STEREOTYPES
So No Carnaval (Brazil 1982)
(Only at the Carnival)
Documentary film, 35 and 16 mm, optic sound, 12 min., color, in Portuguese with English subtitles; also available in Italian
Made by Eunice Gutman and Regina Vega
Producer: Cine-Qua-Non
Distributors: 16-mm version available from Grupo de Pesquisa Cinematografica (Brazil) and Eunice Gutman (Brazil); Italian version available from Gruppo Comunicazione Visiva-Florence (Italy)
A group of fathers in a middle-class neighborhood of Rio de Janeiro dress up as women - and hasten to declare that they "only do this during Carnival season." Their wives help them with their clothes and make-up and make them special dresses for the occasion. Meanwhile, the men insist that they have "nothing to do with" the groups of gay men that also turn up in the film. These men also enjoy parading in drag and dress up as sophisticated and exuberant ladies. The women who watch this display however object to the image of women that it puts across.
Naturaleza Muerta (Mexico 1979)
(Still Life)
Made by Adriana Contreras
Distributor: contact Centro de la Mujer para la Produccion Audiovisual (Mexico)
Starting from the image of a frozen fish in a restaurant, this audiovisual goes on to analyze the nature of machismo. Convinced that it is well on the road to extinction, the filmmaker describes how machismo will soon be reduced to nothing more than a still life, which in Spanish literally means "dead nature."
Tahur (Mexico)
Slideshow, color, in Spanish
Distributor: contact Comunicacion, Intercambio y Desarrollo Humano en America Latina (CIDHAL) (Mexico)
Based on the Mexican folk song "Tahur," this slideshow tells the story of a man who loses everything he has in card games and finally decides to bet his wife away as well. This slideshow has been used very successfully in Mexico to stimulate discussion among grassroots groups about machismo in Mexican society.
Sustantivo (Brazil 1979)
(Noun)
Film, 16 mm, 14 min., color, in Portuguese
Producer: Pilar Filmes
Distributor: Grupo Femenino de Pesquisa Cinematografica (Brazil)
A creative audiovisual, this film examines the uses and evolution of the word "woman," using dictionary definitions and anthropology to trace the changing usage of the word through modern times.
Espontanea Belleza (Mexico)
(Spontaneous Beauty)
Made by Lilian Liberman
Distributor: contact Centro de Mujeres para la Produccion Audiovisual (Mexico)
In this audiovisual a young woman gets ready to meet her boyfriend. An insightful look at how women laboriously transform and often distort their natural image in order to please men.
Seguro Que Bach Cerraba Su Puerta Cuando Queria Trabajar (Argentina 1982)
(Fact Is That Bach Used to Shut His Door When He Wanted to Get Some Work Done)
Super 8 soundtrack, 30 min., color, in Spanish
Made by Narcisa Hirsch
Distributor: Narcisa Hirsch (Argentina)
Filmed from close-up by the filmmaker, a number of women confront and converse with their own mirror
image.
MEDIA IMAGES OF WOMEN
A Primera Vista (Colombia 1979)
(At First Sight)
Dramatic film, 16 and 35 mm, 12 min, color and b/w, in Spanish
Made by Cine Mujer - Colombia
Distributor: Cine Mujer (Colombia)
A Primera Vista is a short film comparing the image of women in advertising to the reality of everyday life. The story follows a young woman as she wakes up, prepares herself for work and hurries to leave the house. Black-and-white images are intercut with flashes of analogous situations shot in color, which are taken from advertising. At the end of the film, we discover that the woman works as a model in advertising films.
La UtiIizacion de la Mujer en la Publicidad Impresa (Colombia 1982)
(How Women Are Used in Print Advertising)
Slideshow, 15 min., in Spanish
Made by Union de Mujeres Democratas
Distributor: Union de Mujeres Democratas (Colombia)
This slideshow examines the kind of advertising that appears in women's magazines and how the ideology behind it reinforces women's traditional role in capitalist society.
Miss Universo en el Peru (Peru)
(Miss Universe in Peru)
Documentary film, 35 mm, 40 min., color, in Spanish
Made by Chasqui
Distributor: Chasqui (Peru)
Shot during the 1982 Miss Universe beauty contest in Peru, this film questions the sexist and superficial values that such contests in their portrayal of women.
NORTH AMERICA
LEARNING/UNLEARNING SEX ROLES
What Will I Be? (Canada 1974)
Video, 3/4 in., 30 min., color, in English
Made by Women in Focus Arts and Media Centre
Distributor: Women in Focus Arts and Media Centre (Canada)
What role does education play in forming the expectations of young people? This video examines the ideological process through which children learn the differing roles of being male or female, looking particularly at the problems of sexism in education and its effects on children. The video ends with Grade 6 students, educated with the textbooks examined earlier in the video, critically discussing sex-role stereotyping.
A Matter of Choice
Film, 16 mm, 10 min., color, in English
Producer: Moira Armour
Distributor: contact Resource Centre, YWCA of Canada
A film which illustrates the ways in which society treats girls and boys differently so that they grow up with different goals and aspirations. It includes interviews with a woman school principal, two grade school girls and two senior high school girls, using employment wage statistics to prove its point.
Learning to Read Between the Stereotypes (Canada)
Film, 16 mm, 20 min., color, in English
Producer: Language Study Centre of the Toronto Board of Education
Distributor: contact Resource Centre, YWCA of Canada
The film raises some fundamental questions about the treatment of sex roles in many of the materials currently in use in schools. In particular, it examines assumptions made about female and male children and adults in the illustration and content of basic reader stories, and it offers some suggestions as to how teachers can deal with these limiting and potentially damaging stereotypes
Anything You Want to Be (USA)
Film, 16 mm, 8 min., b/w, in English
Made by Liane Brandon
Distributor: New Day Films (USA)
This film humorously depicts the conflicts and absurdities that beset a high school girl. In her bid for class president she finds herself running for secretary; in her desire to become a doctor, she leaves the guidance office convinced to become a nurse. Coaxed by voices from television, movies and magazines, she mimics female stereotypes: the worldly sophisticate, the wholesome home-maker, the sexy "chick," the sweet young thing, the imperious matron, and the harried housewife. The film raises questions and provokes thought rather than prescribing answers.
Our Little Munchkin Here (USA 1975)
Film, 16 mm, 12 min., color, in English
Made by Lois Tupper
Distributor: Iris Feminist Collective (USA)
A shy and self-conscious teenage girl, interested in horses, faces pressures from her family to conform to more "feminine" roles and images. This minidrama provides a realistic look at the awkwardness and alienation faced by many adolescent girls growing up in middleclass families.
The Flashettes (USA)
Film, 16 mm, 20 min., color, in English
Made by Bonnie Friedman
Distributor: New Day Films (USA)
This film is an exhilarating exposition of how young urban women can actively develop themselves through sports. It movingly shows how rigorous physical training helps produce not only muscle, but also a positive self-image and pride.
Goldwood/Goldwood-Souvenirs d'Enfance (Canada)
Film, 20 min., in French and English
Made by Bob Vernall
Distributor: Studio D (USA), National Film Board of Canada (Canada)
An adult woman attempts to evoke the child she was at Goldwood, site of a deserted gold mine. The film evokes the universal feelings of a child in an adult's world and the awareness of self.
LANGUAGE AND STEREOTYPES
Le Grand Remue-Menage (Canada 1978)
(The Big Housecleaning)
Film, 16 mm, 70 min., color, optic sound, in French
Made by S. Grouly and F. Allaire
Distributor: Delegation Generale du Quebec (France) or contact National Film Board of Canada (Canada)
A series of interviews, first with a little boy who has just come out of school, and later with a typically macho man. The film exposes sex-based stereotypes, including patterns of sexist education in the classroom, in the military, in childrens' games, in sports and on the job, calling for a transformation of male-female relations.
Masculinity: Fact or Act? (USA)
Slideshow, 20 min., b/w, in English
Distributor: Men's Resource Center (USA)
This slideshow illustrates how traditional male roles hurt men and the women and children to whom they relate. It shows how boys from very early childhood are conditioned to hold in their feelings and to be tough and competitive. Although there are drawbacks to the traditional male role, however, there are also privileges which come at the expense of women. The slideshow finishes with sections showing how men are changing the traditional patterns and are supporting women's liberation. It illustrates how men who change feel more free, more confident, more satisfied with their lives.
Yes Baby, She's My Sir! (USA)
Filmstrip, 25 min., in English
Director: Ellen Cooperperson
Distributor: Feminist Productions (USA)
This lively image and sound presentation explores the impact of sexist language on people's lives and self-concepts.
Woman: Who Is Me? (USA)
Film, 16 mm, 11 min., color, in English
Made by Judith Keller
Distributor: Tricepts Productions (USA)
A film about the persistence of myths about women, creating an awareness of the part that art and other visual media have played in perpetuating these images. It explores biblical and mythological themes as well as contemporary portrayals in a montage of major art works and popular media representations of women through the ages.
Once Upon a Choice (USA)
Film, 16 mm, 15 min., color, in English
Made by Liane Brandon
Distributor: New Day Films (USA)
In Once Upon a Choice, a princess decides for herself what it means to live "happily ever after." With rich detail and warm, humorous characters, the film raises important issues of conventional sex roles, marriage, independence and responsibility. In striking contrast to traditional fairy tales, Princess Frances surprises her parents by choosing an option that wasn't offered to her; before considering marriage, she decides to take a journey for a year and a day. At the end of the film, the princess bravely sets out to explore her own kingdom.
HEROINES AND VICTIMS: MYTHS FOR OUR TIME
Sacrificial Burnings (Canada 1980)
Video, 3/4 in., 40 min., color, in English
Made by Nancy Nicole
Distributor: Women in Focus Arts and Media Centre (Canada)
Sacrificial Burnings is an experimental art tape about love, power and illusion. It explores how patriarchal authority vested in the institutions of church, state and marriage has suppressed dissident female voices. Quotations from a medieval manual for inquisitors referring to the "wickedness of women" and the "evil of witches" are interwoven with two modern stories: one about a clandestine romance, the other the story of actress Francis Farmer, who was driven to alcoholism and incarceration in a mental hospital by the Hollywood glamor mill.
Lies (USA 1980-83)
Sixth in an eight-part series
Video, 3/4 in., VHS, Beta, 30 min., in English
Made by Doris Chase
Distributor: Women Make Movies (USA)
This video is a comic yet dramatic study of the lies women tell in order to negotiate the hurdles of everyday living in a sexist world.
Electra Tries to Speak (USA 1983)
Fifth in an eight-part series
Video, 3/4 in., VHS, Beta, 30 min., in English
Made by Doris Chase
Distributor: Women Make Movies (USA)
This video is a modern interpretation of the classic Greek tragedy. Electra is all women trying to speak, although trained to nod and smile, to keep quiet and look like they understand. It addresses the emerging independent woman with all the power and confusion which this role transition contains - the dependence, the trepidation, the learning and the will to be and to be heard.
Storytelling (Canada 1983)
Film, 16 mm, 55 min., color, in English
Made by Kay Armatage
Distribution: Canadian Filmmakers Distribution Centre (Canada)
This award-winning film features performances by master storytellers, with tales that trace the entire human lifespan, from creation and birth to adulthood, death and regeneration. The stories are intercut to produce a special narrative effect and offer an alternative vision of women's role as producers and heroines of culture.
Lilian la Roo (USA 1980)
Animation film, 1 min., color, in English
Made by Lorraine Weese
Distributor: Iris Feminist Collective (USA)
A fully animated cut-out featuring a badge-wearing western woman who shows courage and ability in an encounter with a villain. Lilian is a peace-loving, mind-her-own-business woman out for a breath of fresh air in the mountains. She provides the audience with a simple and delightful sense of her own power as a woman.
Heroes (Canada 1983)
Film, 23 min., color, in English
Made by Barbara Martineau
Distributor: Canadian Filmmakers Distribution Centre (Canada)
The film tells the story of three women: Sarah, elderly and disabled; Olga, a Black immigrant who teaches music; and Martha, a photographer learning carpentry. We learn from this film that we are all heroes, that growth necessarily involves adaptation to change and the commitment to seek change in the world at large.
Annapurna: A Woman's Place (USA)
Film, 16 mm; video, 45 min., in English
Made by Dyanna Taylor and Marie Ashton
Distributor: Women Make Movies (USA)
Annapurna is the powerful story of ten women who set out in 1978 to do what no one from the United States had done before—climb Annapurna, one of the world's tallest and most dangerous peaks. With an all-woman crew, filmmakers Dyanna Taylor and Marie Ashton accompanied the expedition on the long march to Base Camp, climbing nearly 19,000 feet themselves, sharing and recording on film the demands of the journey, the triumph of the ascent and the tragic loss of two team members.
MEDIA IMAGES OF WOMEN
On the Bias (Canada 1980)
Slideshow, 28 min., color, in English
Made by Women's Group Development Education Center (DEC)
Distributor: Development Education Center (DEC) (Canada)
Using clothing as a theme throughout the show, On the Bias looks at the situation of women workers in the garment and retail industries and at home. It looks at the role of fashion and advertising in the manipulation of women's self-image, the history of women's work and women's clothing as changes in fashion styles have matched changes in women's roles at work and in society.
Clothes (USA 1983)
Video, 3/4 in., VHS, Beta, 32 min., in English
Made by Gloria Kaufman
Distributor: Gloria Kaufman (USA)
This video is an amusing feminist analysis of the psychology and politics of clothes from historical and cross-cultural perspectives, with illustrations from costumes and dress museums all over the world. It looks at the 1620s clothes controversy in England when women cut their hair short and donned "men's" apparel and examines apparels of 16th and 20th centuries.
Atravesando Lenguajes (USA 1981)
(Traversing Languages)
Video, 3/4 in. (NTSC), 28 min., color, in Spanish and English with stereo soundtrack
Made by Eugenia Balcells with consultants Marta I. Moia and Noni Benegas
Distributor: Eugenia Balcells (USA)
Based on the 1981 Miss America Pageant, this video uses two simultaneously projected images to contrast the "public" visual language used in the pageant in order to exploit the female image with the "personal" language of everyday life. Atravesando Lenguajes helps point out the kind of visual violence inflicted on us by the traditional media, as opposed to the gentler, more interactive forms of social documentation made possible through alternative audiovisual production and use.
Boy Meets Girl (USA 1978)
Film, super 8, 10 min., magnetic sound, in English
Made by Eugenia Balcells
Distributor: Eugenia Balcells (USA)
Composed of images from newspapers, magazines and advertising, this video outlines the archetypical images of both men and women normally presented to us by the mass media. The screen is divided into two parts: on the left, we see a rapid succession of images of women, and on the right, images of men. The two columns are randomly matched to form a series of tongue-in-cheek portraits of possible couples.
Femmes de Reve (Canada 1979)
(Dream Women)
Video, 3/4 and 1/2 in., 10 min., b/w, in French
Made by Louise Gendron
Producer: Groupe Intervention Video (GIV)
Distributor: GIV (Canada)
This video describes how advertising produces a false image of women. Starting with television commercials and women's magazines, it tries to deconstruct the mythical world of "eternal femininity" and "ultra-natural beauty" created by advertisers, which follows us around on buses, subways, the television and right into our own homes. As women, the author tells us, we have been made the heroines of a false saga aimed solely at making us buy products we don't need.
Killing Us Softly: Advertising's Image of Women (USA)
Film, 16 mm, 30 min., color, in English
Made by Jean Kilbourne
Distributor: Cambridge Documentary Films, Inc. (USA)
The film examines specific ways in which advertisements reinforce stereotypes and effect our self-image. Using hundreds of ads from magazines, newspapers, album covers and storefront windows, the film gives a concise and important analysis of a $40 billion industry that preys on people's fears and insecurities.
That's Not Me They're Talking About (Canada 1980)
Video, 3/4 in., 30 min., color, in English
Made by Women in Focus
Distributor: Women in Focus Arts and Media Centre (Canada)
This videotape looks at the presentation of women in television, movies, advertising, music, fashion and the visual arts, decoding the images and examining the connections between them and women's lives. The problems created by these images are discussed along with suggestions for improving the portrayal of women in the media and therefore the quality of our lives.
Faits Divers: Elle Remplace Son Mari par une T.V. (Canada 1983)
(Items of Interest: She Replaces Her Husband with a T.V.)
Video, 3/4 in., 28 min., color, in French
Made by Linda Craig and Jean-Pierre St-Louis
Producer: Coop Video de Montreal
Distributor: Groupe Intervention Video (GIV) (Canada)
A suburban housewife, Yvonne Gendron takes good care of her home. Still, every afternoon, she takes an hour's break to watch her favorite soap opera on television. But is what she is seeing merely a television show, or is it reality? Events in the soap opera start to interweave with the life of the Gendron family, upsetting what appears to be the household's peace and quiet. The video raises questions about soap operas and life in the suburbs.
Another Great Day (USA 1980)
Animated film, 6 min., color, in English
Director: Jo Bonney and Ruth Peyser
Distributor: Women Make Movies (USA)
A housewife, hypnotized by a fantasy world of television shows, radio announcers and romance novels, performs her daily chores. Her mind, colonized by distorted values, is able to recognize only its own despair.
PORNOGRAPHY
Reclaiming Ourselves: A Feminist Perspective on Pornography (Canada 1979)
Slideshow, 30 min., color, in English
Made by Women Against Violence Against Women and Women in Focus Arts and Media Centre
Distributor: Women in Focus Arts and Media Centre (Canada)
This production looks at the ways pornography and other sexist media portray women and the resulting messages on the nature of women's and men's sexuality and power relations. Connections are examined between the objectification of women in sexist advertising and movies and the glorification of rape, mutilation and murder of women for male titillation.
Not a Love Story (Canada)
Documentary film, 16 mm; video, 68 min., color, in English
Director: Bonnie Sherr Klein
Producer: National Film Board of Canada
Distributor: National Film Board of Canada (Canada)
This feminist film examines pornography as a womanhating ideology and not merely as an industry that exploits women. The film is done as a documentary, as an expose and also as a personal journey, following a real-life Canadian stripteaser through a process of self-examination. In this film pornography becomes a revealer of the way women are treated, the way women are manipulated, mutilated and silenced.
A Respectable Lie (Canada 1980)
Video, 3/4 in., 30 min., color, in English
Made by Women in Focus and Media Centre
Distributor: Women in Focus Arts and Media Centre (Canada)
This videotape examines the imagery and messages of pornography and its connection to violence against women, stating that we do not have to accept it. The opening is a fast-paced montage of the sexist visual and audio images which confront us daily in popular fashion magazines, billboards, newspapers, record albums and radio programming. Four women then discuss pornography - what it is, how it has affected and continues to affect themselves and other women. The narrator of the tape provides a closer look at how pornography works. Together they draw connections between the messages of pornography and increasing rates of violence against women.
C'est Surtout Pas de l'Amour (Canada 1981)
(Above All, It Isn't Love)
Film, 16 mm, 90 min., in color, optic sound
Made by Bonnie Sherr Klein
Distributor: Mouvement Francais pour le Planning Familial – Isere (France)
An introduction to the thriving pornography business, this film includes interviews with a number of women who analyze pornography as a source of oppression and violence against women.
SEE ALSO
Other resources that address the themes of this chapter are listed below. The chapters where they may be found are given in boldface type.
WORLDWIDE
Women in Struggle
World Feminists
ASIA
Identity, Roles and Relationships
Japanese Women (Japan)
Empowering Women for Development
We Thai Women (Thailand)
AUSTRALIA AND THE PACIFIC
Times of Transition/Growing Older
Age Before Beauty
EUROPE
Lesbian/Gay Liberation
Hors d'Oeuvre in Light (Denmark)
Sexual Violence
Give Us a Smile (England)
Trial for Rape (Italy)
L'Amour Viole (France)
Ourselves and Our Bodies
L'Amour Nu (France)
NORTH AMERICA
Reclaiming Our History
Union Maids (USA)
Emerging Woman (USA)
Times of Transition/Growing Older
Pense a Ton Desir (Canada)
La Cage Doree (Canada)