Kill Bill as a Feminist Statement Essay Example

Kill Bill as a Feminist Statement Paper Kill Bill Church Feminism , in general terms, is a movement for womens empowerment. It comprises a wide range of social, cultural and political movements and Is concerned with gender inequalities and equal rights for women. Feminist movement has generated feminist theory which puts feminist Ideas Into theoretical background. It alms at understanding the nature of Inequality and focuses on gender politics , power relations and sexuality. It explores a broad scope of themes such as discrimination, stereotyping, objectification, especially sexual one, oppression and patriarchy. Feminist literary criticism derived from feminist theory and It deals with traditions and conventions of patriarchy, a social system In which , from the feminist point of view , men hold all the power. The dominance and superiority of men over women which result from this social construct exist In literary, historical and cultural contexts. Feminist criticism studies texts and considers the approaches to womens portrayal and position in the text. From this particular point of view , a feminist text, a work of literature or a film , needs to posses certain features and stress particular issues such as encouragement of female empowerment and abandonment of the stereotypical way of portraying a woman, it should challenge gender role model and a patriarchal system of society. We will write a custom essay sample on Kill Bill as a Feminist Statement specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on Kill Bill as a Feminist Statement specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on Kill Bill as a Feminist Statement specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer In 2003, an American film director Question Fiction, Reservoir his fourth film Kill Bill, which was released in two installments, Kill Bill Volvo. in 2003, Kill Bill Volvo. 2 in 2004. During the press conference before the premiere of Kill Bill Volvo. L in August 2003, Question Titration was asked if he considered his film a feminist statement since it was dominated by strong women. He answered Erm, I would probably use the word girl power (www. Camera. Co. UK) which has generated a great deal of heated debate among feminists. The structure of Kill Bill is based on the structure of a novel. It is divided into two volumes, with five chapters each. It tells the story of The Bride aka Black Mamba aka Beatrice Kiddo, who takes revenge on Bill, her former lover and master at the art of assassination. , and also on his subordinates , the Deadly Viper Assassination Squad (D. Iv. A. S) for trying to murder her and her unborn baby during her wedding rehearsal (volume 1, chapter 2). They kill everybody present In the church and The Bride is the last one to be assassinated. Before she manages to tell 8111 he Is the babys father, he shoots her In her head. However, The Bride survives and falls Into coma of which she comes out after four years. She finds out that she had lost her baby and Is determined to take revenge on the assassins who led her to that point. In order to analyses the film from the feminist point of view, It Is necessary to mention the term of the male gaze, Introduced by feminist film theory. The term the gaze/ look generally refers both to the way all audience views he people presented In different forms of visual culture and to the gaze of those appearing in visual texts . Feminist film criticism theory has pointed to the male gaze predominantly present in Hollywood cinema. Laura Mulled, a British film theorist and maker, in her essay Visual Pleasure And Narrative Cinema argues that a cinema provides a spectator with different pleasures, like chipolatas, ( 587) which Is a pleasure Trot looking an a Intercalation Walt n ten male actor appearing In a value medium, however, she believes it is only true for a male spectator . The male gaze roses the audience to perceive the action and characters from the male perspective , which sexually objectifies women and exhibit unequal power relationship. She points out that In a world of sexual imbalance, pleasure in looking has been split between active/ male and passive/ female. ( Mulled 589) In this regard, cinema oppresses women , not only those being looked at, but also female spectators who do the looking. Taking it into consideration, Kill Bill seems to be quite innovative. Although it is an action film which is traditionally directed at a male spectator, it does not employ the male gaze. Female characters are portrayed in a manner that may be viewed as breaking the convention of the genre. The stereotypical image of a woman in an action film is reducing them to the position of sexual objects rather than subjects with their subjective way of thinking. As Mulled notices: The determining male gaze projects its phantasm onto the male figure, which is styled accordingly. In their traditional exhibitionist role women are simultaneously looked at and displayed, with their appearance coded for strong visual and erotic impact so that they can be said to connote to-be-looked-at-news. Woman displayed as sexual object is the leitmotif of erotic spectacle Olds the look, plays to and signifies male desire (Mulled, 589) Women are generally portrayed as flat characters, constructed in a way that would meet a male heterosexual spectators expectations and epiphanies. The role they perform is simply decorative. However , Kill Bill moves away from this practice. Female characters are very attractive but, at the same time, they are not reduced to the status of sex symbols. Their sexuality is hidden in a way, it is not overemphasized and does no create an opportunity for a male spectator o get sexual pleasure from looking at them. The clothes the women are wearing are not gendered, they resemble rather a kind of elegant modern armor and do not evoke any sexual connotation. The Brides most memorable outfit is her yellow and black Jumpsuit, which seems to suggest she is deadly dangerous, like poisonous animals. An interesting example of playing with the male gaze in Kill Bill may be found in the scene in which Bud ( Michael Madsen ), Bills brother manages to enable The Bride from killing him and shoots her in the chest with rock salt ( Volvo. , chapter 7 ) . While The Bride is lying on the ground, Bud is kneeling beside her and the gaze appears- they exchange looks. The whole scene is constructed in a classic western film manner. Beatrice looks very fragile, Bud is masculine, the position of their bodies suggests male dominance and female passivity. When Beatrice spits into Buds face, a spectator expects him to wipe his face with a superior smirk, however, he does something else. He spits back with a heavy load of thick saliva and makes a comment Ã'›l win. Paradoxically, it reveals his weakness and feeling of inferiority, he is very proud to have captured a dangerous arrow and cannot resist the temptation to humiliate her. The whole scene does not evoke any sexual connotations and is a kind of the reversal of the male gaze. The issue of power relations present in the scene mentioned above, is frequently accentuated in Ã'›Kill Bill. The most explicit example is the relation between The Bride and her male counterpart Bill ( David Circadian), who has all the features of a patriarchy figure. Bill is a very authoritarian person, he manipulates people, especially women, cynically slung tenet emotions to make teem moment to Nils orders, like it is illustrated by his relationship with Ell Driver( Daryl Hannah). Beatrice Kiddo used to be his pupil whom he mastered in the art of assassination and was his lover as well, however, she managed to free herself from dependency on men and become a self- assured woman who do not need a male authority to help her create and define herself. The moment she does that, she assumes the power and takes the dominant position. Bills weaknesses are exposed, it is him who is driven by emotions and overreacts, as he calls it. His attempt at killing Beatrice was caused by his hurt leaning, after she abandoned him to start a new living with another man. Their last (Volvo. 2. , last chapter) meeting, preceding their duel, reveals his real nature, ruled by male ambition. In order to find out the true reason for her betrayal he shoots her with a dart filled with truth serum. After she reveals the truth about her pregnancy and decision not to let her child be born into the world of crime and violence, a spectator could expect they will resolve to stay together especially bearing in mind that The Brides daughter, B. B. ( Pearl Haney-Sardine) was saved after the massacre in he church and lives with Bill. Nevertheless, The Bride has freed herself from an influence of Bill, she also rejects the typical model off family and after a fight she kills him. In the end he salutes to her and seems to admit it is her who has a superior position in their relationship. Bill is only one of the examples of male inferiority in comparison to moral and physical supremacy of women. The Bride is obviously the strongest female character, nevertheless, she is only one of the whole gallery of dominant female figures. They are portrayed as multidimensional harassers, with their past and psychological profile. Their cruelty is in a way explained by the story of their lives and a spectator sympathizes with them whereas the overall image of the majority of male characters in Kill Bill is fairly negative. They are full of vices, they are driven by primitive forces and lack any respect towards women. Moreover, they are punished by women for their inappropriate attitude towards women. The examples are numerous , including Beatrice killing Buck (Michael Bowen) who has been selling sexual access to her body as she laid comatose, as well s assassinating a man who had Just paid Buck for raping her(Volvo. L, chapters) . Furthermore, another illustration of female empowerment is the case of O-Rene Sushi ( Lucy Lieu ) who becomes the leader of Tokyo gangs. After one of the bosses Tanana ( June Kumara ) expresses his disagreement and offends her, she decapitates him, stressing her new dominant position in the world of Japanese crime. The only positive male figures appearing in Ã'›Kill Bill are Hatters Hanna ( Sonny Chubb) , a swordfish who breaks an oath he has made not to produce any tools that kill, urges a sword for her. Another positive figure is Pap Me (Gordon Lieu), a legendary martial arts master who trains her and whose tutelage turn out to play a crucial role in The Brides life twice once, she is able to rescue herself from the buried coffin, second time she uses Five Point Palm Exploding Heart Technique, to kill Bill. What needs to be emphasized, is the fact that Hatters Hanna and Pap Me do not belong to the Western culture and simultaneously, are not representatives of the patriarchal structure of society associated with Western world by feminists. In contrary to the active relations between men and women, the relations between women are embedded with mutual respect, even if deeply hidden, and to some extent, a feeling AT loyalty related to Dealing a woman. I en aspect AT womens solitary Is Illustrated In numerous ways, for example in the scene of the duel between The Bride and O-Rene (Volvo. , chapter 5), when the latter apologies for underestimating and mocking at the former one. Moreover, even The Brides enemy, Ell Driver ( Darryl Hannah) who is jealous of Bill, reveals her respect and admiration for The Bride, by means of assassinating Bud(Volvo. 2, chapter 9) . As she explains to Bud before he dies, The Bride ,whom she considers dead , was the greatest warrior Ell has ever known and did not deserve to have been killed by such a pathetic figure as Bud. Another good illustration of the point is the scene in which Beatrice finds out she is pregnant(Volvo. 2, last chapter). The woman she is to assassinate, Lisa Wong, Aviatrixs last assignment, agrees to withdraw simply because of the fact Beatrice is pregnant. If it was a man it would never be possible for Beatrice to convince him to give up on the clash. Ã'›Kill Bill is innovative not only by means of creating a new image of a woman in an action film, it breaks new ground in terms of presenting a new image of a mother. Throughout the whole film, the main driving force giving The Bride the strength and determination is the will to take revenge for, as she believes, killing her baby. The issue of maternity is highly debatable among feminists. One of the aspects is single motherhood, still condemned by a society. Kill Bill presents a new image of a single mother, who would do anything in order to be with her child, regardless the amount f pain she has to bear. One could even claim that it is the motherhood that moves the plot and signifies the most important moments in the film. The first one is the moment Beatrice finds out she is pregnant. In the aforementioned scene, in which Beatrice is supposed to kill Lisa Wong, she appears at the door the moment Beatrice interprets the result of the pregnancy test to discover she is going to have a baby. The woman breaks into the hotel room and , while Beatrice and Lisa are aiming at each other with their guns, Beatrice reveals to Lisa she is pregnant and begs her to go away. At this particular point she makes her first sacrifice on behalf of her unborn daughter, because she is aware that not fulfilling the assignment is highly unprofessional and will not be easily forgotten by Bill whom she decides to leave in order to save her child from the influence of the crime world. Another moment , in which maternity unifies women hostile to each other is the fight between Beatrice and Veering Green ( Vicar A. Fox) . Len the middle of their vicious fight , Veronicas daughter arrives home and it makes the two woman stop in order to enable the little girl from eyeing her mother in such a situation. Furthermore, the moment The Bride finds her daughter B. B. Perfectly safe, living with her father Bill, she is so determined to keep her only for herself that she does not hesitate to kill Bill in order to protect her daughter from the negative influence not only of the criminal world of hired assassins, but also from the patriarchal concept of a family. The next morning after her fight with Bill, she cries hysterically on the motel bathroom floor and she seems to suffer after her lovers death, but as the camera moves closer it turns out that she s constantly repeating Thank you, happy and grateful for staying alive and having her daughter back. The importance of motherhood in the film is very much stressed by the exit quote : The lioness has rejoined the cub. All is right in the Jungle. ( Kill Bill Volvo. 2, Last Chapter) To summaries, Kill Bill has all the features of a feminists statement. It presents the dominance of strong impressive women who are contrasted Walt weak, morally Ana phonically Interior men. I en Tamale snatchers are assuming their position of power and finds a new place in the patriarchal world f men. The film rejects gender stereotypes and seems to redefine a woman by merging two aspects-being a warrior and a mother. However, it would be difficult to call it an iconic feminist film, bearing in mind the words of the director, Titration, who asked about his popular success replies: I dont think about the audience. The audience is above all me; Im my own audience. I make films for film lovers like me. The question I ask myself is, What would I pay $7 to seer (http://www. Festival- Cannes. FRR/en/article/42898. HTML). Probably it would be more reasonable not to treat he message of the film too seriously and instead of that, simply enjoy the play with stereotypes and genre conventions. BIBLIOGRAPHY Mulled, Laura. Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema. Literary Theory : An Anthology.

Media Control essays

Media Control essays As citizens of a capitalist society we need to consider the dangers that corporate media imposes on democracy. Big corporations interest lies in the betterment of the corporation. So what interest does big corporation have in the media? This discussion usually begins with the question: What purpose does the media serve in a democratic society? Society currently faces a controversy over the definition of democracy. Democracy (di mokr sà ª) n., pl. -ies 1. government by the people; a form of government in which the supreme power is vested in the people and exercised directly by them or by their elected agents under a free electoral system. 2. a state having such a form of government. 3. a state of society characterized by formal equality of rights and privileges. 4. political or social equality; democratic spirit. 5. the common people, of a community as distinguished from any privileged class; the common people with respect to their political power. There are two forms of democracy widely discussed yet only one is acted out. The first is a democracy for the people, where people take part in the political process. The second is the idea that the masses lack the superior qualities needed to make good decisions; we elect individuals who have the superior decision making qualities to make our decisions for us. These two interpretations run parallel in some cases but there is much discrepancy in the role the people should take in democracy. Should people take an active role in the decision making process? Or do we refrain from letting our ignorance get in the way and let our leaders do their job? In this country we let the leaders take the power. Theoretically speaking, it makes sense. Some people are better leaders than others, so they should be in charge. But what happens when the people in charge do n ...

How To Adopt CoSchedule With This Simple Change Management Process

How To Adopt With This Simple Change Management Process Odds are you’ve been managing your projects, campaigns, workflows, team communication, reporting, and more in non-marketing tools. And you’ve got spreadsheets for days. So. Many. Spreadsheets. You’ve been weighed down with single-solution tools that do one thing†¦ but they don’t integrate†¦ ⠝Å' You use Asana or Wrike for project management. ⠝Å' You’ve got Hootsuite or SproutSocial for social publishing. ⠝Å' You’ve got Google calendar, docs, or a spreadsheet for your editorial calendar. ⠝Å' And of course endless email threads. We call this â€Å"Makeshift Marketing† and this is the problem marketers like you face every day. Fortunately, it’s also the problem that solves.    ^^^ does this look familiar? It’s a perfect visual of Makeshift Marketing. So, if you’re stuck wasting time, missing deadlines, and without visibility into ALL of your marketing details†¦ it’s time for . Why is seeing it all in one place important? Marketers who organize their marketing strategy AND plan are 538% more successful than those who don’t.    Want another reason? Marketers who organize their process workflow to create a scalable repeatable process are 466% more successful than those who don’t.    Now that you’ve chosen , you will solve each of these problems!

Mental models Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Mental models - Essay Example Basically, these mental models are ideas and beliefs that people instinctively or intentionally acquires from their experiences and which consequently influence their behavior and mindset (Uitdewilligen, Waller, & Pitariu, 2013). These images of recognized reality inform individuals of cause and effect, and push them to predict specific outcomes, interpret occurrences, and prompt them to act in specific ways. However, mental models can be both an advantage and a disadvantage, particularly with regard to perceiving other people. This essay discusses how mental models both assist and limit an individual’s perception of people they will meet for the first time. Individuals all have assumptions about other people. These assumptions guide individuals in a variety of ways. They assist individuals in anticipating and interpreting the behavior of other people. Assumptions about others are also helpful when an individual has to give a description of another person. Yet, the main import ance of a mental model is its capacity to help individuals conduct their interactions with other people (Young, 2011). People’s assumptions about other people have significant impact in their daily lives. ... In the real world, people obviously do not have the luxury of time to get to know all the people they meet personally. According to Senge (2010), mental models help individuals make decisions and anticipate how other people will act in specific circumstances instantly. The usefulness of mental models becomes pronounced in a culturally diverse organization (Matteson, 2013). For instance, a senior executive in a multinational company is urgently looking for a new project manager. The applicants come from different racial backgrounds, and the senior executive is assigned to interview each of these applicants. He is meeting all these applicants for the first time. His mental models of various racial groups will definitely influence his choice. These mental models will guide his decision of who to hire for the position of project manager. Mental models are valuable tools in unfamiliar situations and circumstances requiring quick decisions. These mental models can also be useful in instanc es where an individual will be meeting another person from a different culture. These mental models may guide an individual’s behavior or attitude toward another person. Having an assumption of one’s culture helps create a meaningful and respectful interaction between individuals of different cultures (Lundquist & Jarvella, 2000); for instance, if person A, an Australian, will meet person B, a Japanese, for the first time it would be helpful if person A assumes that Japanese, unlike Australians, are not straightforward people. This assumption will help person A conduct a harmonious, polite conversation with person B. Even in business negotiations, mental models of individual characteristics and culture may help resolve conflict and make personal and cultural

Family Law, Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Family Law, - Essay Example Under such circumstances, the state is bound to uphold and protect family interests in its constitution, as a pre-condition for ensuring social order and preserving the sanctity of marriage bonds. The preservation and development of the institution of marriage is also intrinsic to the growth and development of the Irish State and nation. Specifically, the law acknowledges the fact that the role women play at her home is important without which common progress cannot be realised. Therefore, the common contention is that family economic burden should not perforce a woman to seek income avenues and neglect in the carrying out of household duties and child-rearing activities, particularly because this forms the nucleus of the family establishment in Ireland. The sanctity of marriage and its continuance is also a state promise in Ireland. It is now sought to consider the family under the following Articles: Article 119: Marriage is the formation of family for expansion and growth of national population and the constitution is bound to protect marriage. In it both the male and female members enjoy equal status in the eyes of law. Article 120: It is of paramount importance that the parents raise their children in the right manner, in physical, mental spiritual and social fitness and this is to a very large extent, assisted by the government policies and programmes which are conducive to family rearing. Article 121: This article gives equal status to illegal children (children born out of wedlock) as to legitimate children Article 122: The lives of young people must be protected against exploitation of any kind and they must be prevented from indulging in moral and spiritual debauchery, and not tending to their minds and bodies properly. It is also the duty of the state to take proper steps for ensuring this. The concept of a nucleus family is based on the lives of a married couple wherein the man is the head and provider of the family and the woman is the sustainer and mother figure, who takes care of the family duties and the development of the physical, intellectual, spiritual and moral aspects of the children. Lifelong values to be cherished and implemented are passed on from the parents to their children from generations to generations and this evolutionary process is continued. The traditional stronghold of marriage gives it a social context based on natural law, and this is further sanctified by the discouragement of divorce, and also, the social disapproval of cohabitation. The campaign against the use of contraceptive devices promotes the birth of off-springs and the continuance of the proliferation of the humans in the state. Homosexuality is also strongly disregarded in the Irish Constitution. Article 41 & 42 of the constitution has been enacted with the sole purpose of the protection of the sanctity of marriages and the family. The Irish Constitution under Section 41.3.1 validates the family as a natural unit of social life, and the state is under commitment to carefully preserve this aspect of family life. The stronghold of marriage systems of which the family is a natural outcome, needs to be protected against outside incursions. In delineating this position, the law distinctly recognises the valuable contribution made to the welfare state. It is not

This Is What I Do Essay Example for Free

This Is What I Do Essay Conformity involves the changing of one’s attitudes, opinions, or behaviours. It causes sound-minded individuals to go against their best judgement, to engage in behaviour which they usually would not engage in, even accept and welcome an idea they internally disagree with, all in order to not be a deviant from the group. When faced with a challenging or trivial task, there are two common ways of handling the situation. One is to do so according to your own personal desires and beliefs. The other is to base the decision on the how others will view and respond to it. Remember that time in class when you thought you had the right answer but changed it because a majority of the class thought different, or that time you made fun of the nerdy kid in your class because it was considered the cool thing to do? Their might have been no problems at the time but when you found out your answer was the correct one and you got in trouble for picking on the nerdy kid, the majority of us would find ourselves saying everyone else was doing it. The main reason for conforming is the guarantee that you will never be left alone. It is so often that people commit wrong acts, then when accused, they retreat into the numbers of those involved. Personal desire, like conformity, is essential to life even though we may not appreciate its value. At one point we want to be different from all the rest in one way or another. So we might dress a bit differently and choose to do things we really like. For once, we might form our opinions based on what we really feel. However, sooner or later we are forced to change our spontaneous desires so that society does not label us as different or weird, simply because we are scared of being alone. It seems though that the more unique and out going individuals make an impression on others in life, people like Martin Luther King Jr. who took a stand for what he believed in even though the majority of people were against him. Maybe one day you stand out as unique to someone of great distinction, a C. E. O. of a major company or a director of a new movie, it could change your life indefinately to be someone offbeat from everyone else. In life we must balance our personal desires with what other people think is right, follow your own path and do what you believe in but do not disregard how others feel or think about you. one day the way you present yourself might just make the right impression on the right person.

Go Tell It On The Mountain Essay -- essays papers

Go Tell It On The Mountain In James Baldwin’s 1952 novel â€Å"Go Tell It On The Mountain† the characters in the novel each embark on a spiritual journey. Baldwin has dedicated a chapter to each member of the Grimes family, detailing their trails and tribulations, hopes and aspirations, as each one’s quest to get closer to God becomes a battle. I have chosen the character John because I admire the fierce struggle he endured to find his spirituality. I will examine how he’s embarked on his quest and prove that he has done it with integrity and dignity. This novel is set in 1935 in Harlem, New York City. A small church congregation comes together for Sunday evening mass. The congregation is made up of close friends and family. The novel is centered around the Grimes family. They go to a Baptist church, â€Å"Temple of the Fire Baptized† and it is a very close congregation which every member has a personal bond with one another. This fact, I believe adds to the dynamics of the way they worship and ultimately the way they identify with god. John Grimes, the eldest son of Gabrial Grimes whom was a former well-respected and dynamic preacher, is in search of answers to his unhappiness. John wants to find his place within the church, define his relationship with god, and wants to flush the dislike he has for his father out. His father favors John’s younger brother Roy over himself. Although Roy is a bad seed and has an impeccable ability for getting into trouble he undoubtedly remains the apple of his father’s eye. John has been compared to another young man named Elisha, whom is a member of the church. Elisha is a few years older than John and has the respect of all the congregation members because he showed great intere... ...soul.† He then heard the voice of Elisha, telling him to come through. He heard the singing of the congregation. Elisha said, â€Å"Rise up, rise up, Brother Johnny, and talk about the Lord’s deliverance† John has been saved and exaltedly claimed, â€Å"Lord, I been introduced to the Father, and the Son, and I ain’t no stranger now!† John’s quest to be closer to God was phenomenal. I too have had a rocky relationship with my father and like John has had to fight the demons caused by that relationship and atoned for them. It is very important to practice forgiveness. I believe that John has done that. Hatred is a heavy burden to bare, and lead to destruction. I believe through his newfound relationship with God, he will forgive then rebuild his relationship with his father. And has proven to me that he’s embarked on his quest with integrity and dignity.