Trajectories of Consciousness Raising in American Documentary Films of Second-Wave Feminism
Dagmara Rode
dagmara.rode@uni.lodz.plUniversity of Lodz (Poland)
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7339-9492
Abstract
Observation of the contemporary feminist movement brings to mind often surprising connections with the achievements of previous generations of feminist activists, revealed in the constantly reinterpreted strategies of action, such as reaching for personal experience. Shaped by the second wave of Western feminism, consciousness raising influenced artistic production, including feminist documentary filmmaking of the 1970s. The aim of the article is to characterize the various implementations of consciousness raising strategies in Janie’s Janie (dir. Geri Ashur in collaboration with Peter Barton, Marilyn Mulford, and Stephanie Palewski, 1970), The Woman’s Film (dir. San Francisco Newsreel, 1971) and Rape (dir. JoAnn Elam, 1975). After introducing the concept of consciousness raising itself, the author shows how the structure of consciousness raising groups is being translated into the analysed works by means of “kernel stories”, non-hierarchical relationships between female filmmakers and their subjects, or devices that violate the reality structure, among others.
Keywords:
consciousness raising, feminist documentary film, second-wave feminismReferences
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Authors
Dagmara Rodedagmara.rode@uni.lodz.pl
University of Lodz Poland
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7339-9492
She works as Assistant Professor in the Department of New Media and Digital Culture, University of Lodz, Poland. She published the book Polityka w pierwszej osobie. Twórczość Dereka Jarmana [First-Person Politics: The Work of Derek Jarman] (2014) and several articles on feminist art and activism, experimental film and video art. She is also a member of the feminist collective Manifa Łódź.
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