Herstory Blog Assignment: Due 2/1/10

** Assignment will be reviewed in class on 1/20/10

Thinking About Herstory

In the upcoming weeks, we will discuss the influence of the media on our cultural and sociopolitical views. This assignment will be the first of our reflections on how popular media shapes history by cultivating (or not cultivating) a racist, sexist, ageist, lookist, classist, or homophobic culture.

On January 25^th, we will be watching “Iron Jawed Angels,” a film account on the ratification of the 19^th amendment. For this blog assignment, you will compare and contrast the depiction of suffragists in “Iron Jawed Angels” to the depiction of suffragists in the Disney film “Mary Poppins.” We will not be watching “Mary Poppins” in class, which means you are responsible for viewing this film for the assignment.

Use the following questions to guide your response, but do not merely answer these questions. Remember that you are expected to conduct an analysis of these films in connection to each other, not merely summarize the films. Use of the course texts to inform your analysis is required (at least one cited source from the readings).

Questions:

1. How is the word suffragist used in each film?

2. Which women are active and which ones are passive? Are all the activists in both films active?

3. Are these representations of the suffragist movement realistic?

4. How is activism represented is each film? Does is sustain or disrupt stereotypes of femininity?

5. Do the women in the films continue to be suffragists by the end of the film?

6. How are male and female relationships depicted in each film? How is marriage depicted?

7. How are men depicted in each film?

8. How is women’s labor represented in each film?

9. Are the main characters suffragists? Who are the “main” women in the film? How do they fulfill or disrupt gendered notions of femininity?

10. How does this relate to “isms”- i.e. is this add racist, ageist, ect.