A comparison of the lesbian community from the twentieth century and that which exists today shows almost no resemblance between the two. The traits that marked lesbian culture as ‘distinct’ - namely butch/femme identities - have been replaced by the modern lesbian. The butch/femme lesbian dichotomy of the early twentieth century challenged society’s definition of being female, but the rise of lesbian feminism and the “new lesbian” critiqued this traditional approach as ‘heterosexual roleplay’ and resulted in a shift towards a new lesbian culture altogether. Lesbians in the twentieth century existed in a culture that actively and openly oppressed them. People who were openly homosexual were beaten, arrested, fired, and generally persecuted. “Young and working class lesbians, who were even often without their own comfortable domiciles in which to receive their friends, had no choice but to frequent public places where they could make contact with other lesbians, but it was essential that those public places be clandestine enough to ensure privacy, since exposure could be dangerous” (161 - Twilight lovers). It was from this need for a gathering place that the lesbian bar was born. In this place, there was no need to hide who they were and could seek companionship and romantic…
It is difficult to abandon what is has defined our very selves. Every image we see, from the moment we are born to the moment before we pass, are what create who us as individuals. This representation, as described in “Practices of Looking: An Introduction to Visual Culture,” that happens without our conscious acceptance, is what gives us our perception of society and culture and tells us what emotions to apply. Though this social embodiment is hard to shake off, as can be seen in the…
you gain insight on what makes each label different from the other. If gay and lesbian studies were taught together, you would not understand the depth of what lesbian women had to go through to be taken seriously. Most history on gay studies are told through a gay man’s perspective. This has led many women to feel like the lesbian experience is frequently presented as a pale version of the male. This, however, is not true. Lesbian women have encountered many struggles that differ from the…
In many ways, Leslie Feinberg’s Stone Butch Blues does more than explore what it means to be a part of the LGBTQ community. In many ways, Stone Butch Blues is a “how to” book just as much as it is a lifeline for the LGBTQ community. It is a “how to” book in the sense it examines how to be a member of the LGBTQ community, while at the same time revealing the follies of a definitive correct way how. In doing so, Feinberg reveals not only the performative nature of gender, but also how the concept…
The femme fatale became a very popular character in crime fiction in the United States during the mid-twentieth century (Jaber, 1). This character is a woman who is portrayed to be hyper-sexual and is manipulative towards men. The femme fatale appears in hard-boiled crime fiction and film noir. She also was featured on many pulp covers making seductive poses because of the rise of sex in books (Horsley). Throughout the mid-twentieth century, the femme fatale character changed. Throughout this…
Delicatessen is black-comedy set in around the 1950’s. The French film was written and produced by Jean-Pierre Jeunet and Marc Caro in 1991. This film show cases a range of themes from comedy, romance and horror. The use of different camera angles such as chanted or Dutch. Jean-Pierre Jeunets use of multi narratives to slow the viewer to full understand each character important to the story told in throughout the film. The film opens to a fog consumed rundown apartment building, on the ground…
image of Vit, she is equated to a divine image, which is seen in the lines: “she rises like sunshine” and “Must emerge” . The use of verbs such as “rises” and “emerge” links Vit to the risen again Christ. This shows Annie’s idealisation of Vit since she is making a goddess-like image of her. However, this later contrasts with the line “she does the snake-hips with a hiss” , by using “snake-hips” as a verb here Vit becomes both Eve and the snake. These comparisons, both from Christ and…
was directed by Fritz Lang in Germany in 1931, one year after the production of The Blue Angel. Crippled by his madness, Beckert must kill in order to relieve his rage. By giving into his mental illness, he loses control of his fate. Peter Lorre, the actor that plays Beckert, was chosen for the film by Lang on the account that he was “pudgy, effeminate, and visibly non-German” (Evans). His feminine qualities are seen through his huge eyes and his rounded face, and possibly the deer caught in…
Film Noir is also recognized for its prevalent and prevailing themes. In particular this refers to the narrative and the setting that creates the tone and mood. The setting in Film Noir was influenced by the corruption of the War and the aftermath. The storyline surrounds the male protagonist, who is depressed due to his horrible past and meets the femme fatale, who is undeniably sexy. This causes a turning point in his life. The negativity mood that influenced these narrative conventions come…
Made popular in the 1940s and 1950s, the film noir genre focused on the femme fatale, tantalizing mysteries, and hard-boiled detective stories. Often playing the damsel in distress who needs help from a big strong man, the female character secretly controls the entire show through deviance and she takes her French roots seriously. Men in these films either get seriously hurt or just outright die thanks to their involvement with these dangerous women. Unfortunately for her, it was not a common…