LAIKU ATŠALKAS: ŽURNĀLISTIKA, KINO, POLITIKA - Academia

LAIKU ATŠALKAS: ŽURNĀLISTIKA, KINO, POLITIKADmitrijs PetrenkoDoctoral student, University of Latvia, Department of Communications StudiesGENDER AS AN INSTRUMENT FOR PUBLIC CRITIQUE INCONTEMPORARY LATVIAN FEATURE FILMSKeywords: Gender discourse, post-modernism, mass culture, feature filmsThe author of this paper has analysed four feature films that were released in Latvia in 2007and 2008 from the gender perspective – “Dark Reindeer”, “Monotony”, “Free as a Bird”, and“The Amateur.” The focus is on how producers of these films construct gender and how thiscategory helps in establishing a broader discourse about contemporary society. The author hastaken post-modern critique about gender as a discursive category into account.The main characters in the analysed films have one thing in common – they are all lookingfor a way to make peace with the norms and expectations which are forced onto them by theirsurrounding community. Sooner or later, they all realise that the best way to deal with the problemis to stop looking for the specific way in which this can be achieved. Accordingly, thesecharacters are presented as failures – failures which, against the background of the rest of society,appear to be quite attractive. This is because “society” is often presented via images which aremore like parodies about the traditional and canonised concept of masculinity and femininity.By establishing this gender discourse, the producers of the films have attitudes toward theirheroes that is fairly loyal, if not positive. By romanticising these characters and turning theminto heroes, the producers seem to be offering a post-modern critique of society, with criticismabout the individual as a victim of mass culture being at the foreground. That is why a stepback from the presentation of traditional gender stereotypes among the major characters of thesefilms allows the producers to promote this provocative discourse – one in which the construalof gender roles serves as an instrument for a critique of “normalcy.”228