Movies

I'm interested in reading the posts that will come out of this first-ever Feminist SF Carnival. Here's the call for posts (Via Lis Riba):

Even today, some fandoms seem to have a “No Girls Allowed” sign. Created by men and for men, and populated with men who don’t realize that women also dream of telepathic communication, traveling to the stars, dragon-slaying and x-ray vision, it can get stifling for a female fan. Often a search for positive female portrayals is answered by “This is not for you, so go read Harlequinn romance,” “CENSORSHIP!! She’s crying for CENSORSHIP!!” “I know at least two women who like [simpering, annoying female stereotype “character”]” or even “If you are actually a woman, online its hard to tell.”

(At least, that’s how it seems in superhero fandom.)

But there are female-friendly stories out there. There are female-friendly sites and communities. There are female-friendly fans out there. And yes, there are even feminists out there! Which brings us here.

The Carnival of Feminist Science Fiction and Fantasy Fans periodically collects posts from the hazy side-reality where feminist social consciousness meets the outer limits of the imagination. This is to draw attention to lesser known bloggers, to bring individuals of like-minded (or at least, understanding) interests together, and to foster the growth of feminist fan communities.

The first edition will be on Written World (a comics weblog, so posts from other sci-fi/fantasy fandoms will be welcome and necessary) on July 2, 2006.

Deadline for submissions is June 29th, 2006. Since this is the first edition, we’ll be considering posts during late May 2006 and all of June 2006. After that it will go back to the deadline of the previous carnival. Please email the hostess at ragnellthefoul AT hotmail DOT com or use the submission form.

Some Basic Guidelines:

• All Weblog Postings on Science Fiction and Fantasy works in all media (books, comic books, television, film, roleplaying tabletop games and video games) written from a Feminist Perspective are eligible.
• Fan fiction written from a Feminist Perspective is eligible.
• Posts about fan fiction written from a Feminist Perspective are eligible.
• Posts about conventions and fan gatherings of a Feminist nature are eligible.
• Posts about conventions and fan gatherings written from a Feminist Perspective are eligible.
• Posts about any science fiction or fantasy fandom written from a Feminist Perspective are eligible.
• Posts linking to news and announcements are eligible, so long as they pertain specifically to the Feminist Sci-Fi Fantasy community.
• Considerations about science fiction/fantasy news from a Feminist Perspective are eligible.
• Analysis of non-Feminist works from a Feminist Perspective are eligible.
• Rants about any of the above written from a Feminist Perspective are eligible.
• Posts which spell “Space” using 3 A’s and two exclamation points and are written from a Feminist Perspective are eligible.
• Posts about Green-Skinned Amazons (from Outer Spaaace!) with more than two breasts that are not written from a Feminist Perspective will not be eligible (and if they aren’t damned funny,* will be reproduced for mockery).
• Posts about Getting Your Girlfriend into [specific type of fandom] had also better be damned funny. If written from a Feminist Perspective (even tongue-in-cheek), they will be eligible.

*Sexist and/or homophobic does not equal damned funny, nor does it constitute anything approaching a Feminist Perspective.

Any questions may be directed to Ragnell the Foul — ragnellthefoul AT hotmail DOT com

I'm not as involved in fan communities as I'd like to be, but it seems clear from this call and a few other things I've read that they're called the fanboisie for a reason. Maybe I'll contribute a brief annotated bibliography of feminist SF scholarship that's published online.

7:42: We've hit the high point of the show already? It would seem so, because I can't imagine anything being better than that phenomenal performance by Dolly Parton. Wow! And am I the only person who was really happy to see Matt Dillon nominated for an Oscar, even though he didn't win?

7:46: Full disclosure: I haven't seen a single one of the movies nominated for anything this year, sigh. Also, sort of off-topic, but does anyone else look at all those Brokeback Mountain parodies all over the web and see them as "caricatures of containment," as some have referred to the cartoons of Andrea Dworkin in those flesh mags? Or is Brokeback Mountain helping to open everyone's eyes to sublimated homoeroticism in all kinds of films, as in that great montage they showed of clips from old Westerns? Cue The Celluloid Closet!

7:58: Re the biopic montage: I was a little surprised that Pollock wasn't in there; at least I didn't see it if it was.

9:27: I apparently don't think very much here warrants comment. That exchange between Lily Tomlin and Meryl Streep introducing Robert Altman was just flawless, though. Two old pros.

10:27: Overall, no real surprises...except Best Picture! Whoa! I don't think anyone predicted that one, not that I read.

Pi tagged me.

Four Jobs You’ve Had In Your Life:

1. Concession stand/ticket booth cashier at a movie theater
2. Hostess at Logan's Roadhouse
3. Model for figure drawing/painting classes
4. Comic book store employee (I filed Magic cards and bagged, boarded, and filed comic books)

Four Movies You Could Watch Over And Over:

1. Clueless
2. Rushmore
3. Star Trek: First Contact
4. The Bourne Identity

Four Places You’ve Lived:

1. My parents' house in Florence, AL
2. My apartment in Knoxville
3. That horrible apartment
4. The efficiency I live in now

Four TV Shows You Love To Watch:

1. Lost
2. The Sopranos
3. Alias
4. The Simpsons

Four Places You’ve Been On Vacation:

1. Myrtle Beach, SC
2. Destin, FL
3. Las Vegas
4. New York City

Four Blogs You Visit Daily:

1. The Valve
2. Prof. B.
3. New Kid
4. Girl Genius

Four Of Your Favorite Foods:

1. Chocolate mousse
2. Pizza with chicken, sun-dried tomatoes, and jalapeno peppers
3. Collard greens with cornbread
4. Potatoes, skin on, cut in the style of home fries, roasted in the oven with bacon, salt, pepper, leeks, and cloves of garlic

Four Places You’d Rather Be:

1. Atlanta, GA
2. The Tenure Track
3. On the porch at F.A. eating oysters on the half shell
4. Asheville, NC (everyone says it's nice; I'd love to find out)

Four Albums You Can’t Live Without:

1. Appetite for Destruction, Guns'n'Roses
2. Made in USA, Pizzicato Five
3. Miles of Aisles, Joni Mitchell
4. Easy Rider, Music from the Motion Picture Soundtrack

(so many runners-up: Diana Krall's Love Scenes and The Girl in the Other Room, Sade's Lovers Rock, Diamond Life, Promise, Love Deluxe, various albums from Lucinda Williams and Kasey Chambers, etc.)

Four Vehicles I’ve Owned:

1. A white 1990 Nissan 240SX
2. A black 1990 Buick Reatta
3. The car I drive now, a red 1998 Honda Civic
4. I had a go-cart; does that count...?

Four People To Be Tagged: If you haven't done it yet, you're one of the four!

Edited to add links to those who have heeded the call: GXX, bdegenaro, and John.

Shakespeare's Sister wants to know, What movie scenes always make you cry?

I am such an easy target when it comes to crying at movies, which is why I try to avoid sad movies at all costs, but here are some of mine.

Pretty in Pink, when Blaine says to Andie, "You said I never believed in you, that's not true, I always believed in you. You just didn't believe in me." *sniff*

The School of Rock, at the end when the kids perform on stage. And the girl who's so self-conscious about her weight sings her solo! And she's so GOOD!

Stealing Home, when Billy (Mark Harmon) has the flashback to something Katie (Jodie Foster) said, finally knows what he must do with her ashes, and then runs out and scatters them.

On Golden Pond, when Ethel (Katharine Hepburn) defends Norman (Henry Fonda) against Chelsea's (Jane Fonda) harsh words. Then again in the "you're my knight in shining armor" scene.

Steel Magnolias, Sally Field at the funeral.

And then Amanda asks which scenes always make us laugh.

The School of Rock, when Jack Black is showing that one kid how to adopt the "power stance" when he's playing the guitar.

Raising Arizona, as Nicolas Cage is being chased through the store but still trying to get those Huggies. The physical comedy is pure genius, and the word "huggies" is hilarious in their accents.

Over at The Valve, there's a recent post about spoilers in which Laura and the commenters are talking about "the long-term durability of a story (ie its ability to withstand and reward repeated engagements.)." So far Coleridge has been quoted, but Kenneth Burke talks about this too in "Psychology and Form" in Counter-Statement when he makes the distinction between the "psychology of form" and the "psychology of information." There's more to say about that, but I'm too tired. I'll just end with this link to "the 5 songs that we've ruined thanks to irony." This guy, by the way, has the best blog title ever.

I am Dr. Herbert West, from "Reanimator."
I'm right. You're wrong.


Which Random Cult Movie Character are you?
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