Clockwise Cat Strikes Back

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Feminist Film Fest: “Next Year”/ “Diary of a Teenaged Girl” (Movie Reviews) by Alison Ross I have established in the past (right here in this very wacky zine thing you are perusing) my disdain for "ghettoizing" genders and calling films that have a "girlish" bent a "chick flick." What that basically is saying is that flicks mainly focusing on men - let's call them "dick flicks" - are the norm, the standard. That men are representative of both genders, and that anything that focuses more on female concerns is an aberration from the patriarchal paradigm and should be branded as such, by tagging them with the demeaning "chick flick" label. Okay, fine, call them "chick flicks," but then, as I said, call the male flicks "dick flicks." Both genders should be represented equally in film, as in all other artistic media, and in the work and political spheres as well. I think my labeling is equitable, if a bit crude, especially for the male films. And, let's face it: A lot of films focusing on males are pretty dick flicky, as they emphasize crass phallic pursuits such as getting laid constantly, or racing cars, or blowing up shit. BORING. It's chauvinistic and certainly doesn't do anything to help males along the evolutionary path. Men are not primitive by nature, but a portion of the male population either obstinately refuses to acknowledge their "feminine mystique," or are trapped within a primitive prism owing to pop culture's and the political realm's repulsive insistence on keeping men entrenched in a regressive state, thinking that's what makes men "men." Bullshit. What makes a man a man is his enthusiastic embrace of both female and male qualities. We are all androgynous, ultimately. But it is true, I'm sorry to say, that there are not more chick flicks, in the most positive sense of the term. Sure, feminist filmmaking has picked up in recent years, and I am woefully undereducated when it comes to just how many women are making films, and just how many truly feminist films there are out there making an impact in some grandiose or nuanced way. As much as I love film, I am very far from being a true
connoisseur. So feminist filmmaking may even be more pervasive than I am aware. Still, though, it's obvious that among mainstream and indie film fare, feminist films are not exactly shaking up the universe. They are there, but they are not multitudinous enough. Two recent films have attempted to fill the void left by the dearth of feminist films: "Next Year," helmed by Belgian filmmaker Vania Leturcq and "Diary of a Teenaged Girl, directed by Marielle Heller. Both tackle feminist themes in unique, and even controversial ways. Both tackle female sexuality in a refreshingly brash manner, not shying from the subject but addressing it head-on, without filters and without apology. For some portions of the patriarchal establishment are still crassly nostalgic for the time when women could be roundly condemned within the virgin/whore dichotomy: derided for being pristinely chaste and not concessive enough to male demands for libido satiation, or hypocritically denigrated for being loose if the sexual impulse flows freely. "Next Year" doesn't give a flip about this disgusting dichotomy, but actually explores female sexuality and female friendships from an authentic perspective, double-standard social mores be damned. In "Next Year," the main thematic thrust seems to be female solidarity in the face of male antagonism. The film takes place in Paris, mostly, and has a definite whiff of French sensibility about it, but what's most remarkable is its unabashed universality. The film is not content to simply capture what it's like to be youthful femmes in France; it goes beyond to make a connection across geographic, gender, and epochal boundaries. First and foremost, it's a film about growing up and growing apart. Its feminist bent emerges when the film considers how the women are treated by the men in their lives, how the women handle such treatment, and how they handle each other in light of that treatment. Of course, men should be interested in this angle as well - it's a humanistic angle, after all. What the film does transcendently well is in mirroring the modern zeitgiest of growing up, going to college, grappling with the foibles of self-esteem and the agonizing aspects of best friend love and loss, and, of course, partying 'til you puke...all are crucial components to coming of age stories, and finally, we have a film that narrates the female experience. Too many films focus on the male side of things, which is beyond overdone and beyond uninspired. In "Diary of a Teenaged Girl," female sexuality is even more blatantly presented, as here we have a 15-year old who is screwing her mother's 30-something boyfriend. On the one hand, it's supremely uncomfortable watching this adolescent (played searingly by twentysomething actress, but she looks 15, trust me) euphorically indulge her lustful moods with a much older man. It's also ethically discombobulating to behold this older man so zealously partake in these sexual escapades with a minor. It was, after all, the 1970s, and even though an adult having sex with a 15-year old was illegal, the laws (both actual and moral) certainly weren't enforced much, since so many people seemed to be doing it. The film withholds all judgment on these scandalous liaisons until near the end - and even then, the film is ambiguous about whether the main adult characters seem to grasp the harrowing nature of the transgression. Kristen Wiig is superb as the dysfunctional
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Editor’s Scratching Post: Cataton
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From Mars or Someplace Way Out Ther
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at what level has he beaten me? As
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Two poems By Michael Lee Johnson Gr
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Inside my cranium mind fever genera
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Confederate Battle Flag and the Swa
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Cirque des Cercles By Richard King
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Goliath By Brad Nolen I Goliath was
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Two poems By John Doyle Being a Bee
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Two Texto-Visual Poems By Vernon Fr
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Two poems By Peycho Kanev Author
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Where Have All the Consumers Gone?
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TWO POEMS By Diana May Waldman I wa
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Paper . . . By Holly Holt If the qu
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Deities Slapping Their Knees: A Pla
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Two Collages By Bob Heman
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The Irrepressible Spirit of Anarchi
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Two Poems By Frank Grigonis Author
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EDGE OF DOOM By Kurt Cline Helicopt
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Mirrored By Andrew Dugan That is th
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Pre-Non-Apocalypse By Paul Reilly S
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Bill Cosby Responds Jibber jabber w
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Page 85 and 86: a bowl of oranges by Jenean Gilstra
Page 87 and 88: Two Poems by Heath Brougher Author
Page 89 and 90: CD MINI-REVIEWS By ALISON ROSS Cour
Page 92 and 93: Photography By David Thompson Artis
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Clockwise Cat Strikes Back

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