Blog #10

For this weeks class we watched the movie Boys Don’t Cry. This movie portrayed the life of a transgendered individual. Famous actress Hillary Swank plays the role of Brandon in this film. Brandon who is originally named Teena Brandon is a women with the gender identity of a boy.  Brandon finds himself in a small town in Nebraska where he finds a group of friends and falls in love with Lana. Brandon fits right in with the guys while drinking, smoking, and fighting with them. For once in Brandon’s life he has people that love him for who he believes he is an do not know that he is actually a woman. When his friends found out his life was changed forever. He was raped, beaten, and eventually murdered. In my opinion, this film embodied not only the story of Teena Brandon but the larger issue of gender identity crisis many are facing. This film opened my eyes to the reality that many are not accepted for who they believe they are. Brandon’s friends John and Tom were the ones who shot him after finding out about his true identity. They were not only upset that Brandon had lied to them but they were not accepting that Brandon had female body parts. One scene that really caught my attention was the rape scene. Brandon was brutally assaulted after exposing himself as a transgender. Although there were many scenes in this movie that made me feel uncomfortable when watching this scene portrays the bigger picture. Hate crimes occur often in our society and something needs to be done to prevent another murder like Brandon’s from occurring again.

The story of Boys Don’t Cry is based off of the true story of the real Teena Brandon. In the article written by Anderson we read about another film created to share the story of Teena Brandon. The documentary titled The Brandon Teena Story shared many interviews with those who dated Brandon during his life. One ex-girlfriend described Brandon as “Brandon was every woman’s dream- he knew how to treat a woman.” Brandon displayed all aspect of being a man and when girlfriend Lana found out he was actually a woman she still loved him for who he was. These two films are examples of hate-based violence.

Another article read this week was one written by Judith Halberstam. This article opened my eyes to what terms such as “transgendered” or “queer” really mean. It also opened my eyes to the realization that there are other ways of identifying yourself rather than a male, female, straight, gay, lesbian, or bi. Everyone has a way of defining themselves and we need to learn to be more accepting of this in our society.  This article also depicts Brandon Teena’s story and helps to explain the way Brandon presented himself as a man and how women chose him over men who women typically chose to be with. 

Blog 9 Response to Abby Moran

I agree with Abby that the museum gave me a better understanding of a wider variety of art work. I also do not understand who gets to choose what is appropriate and what is not. I also agree that artists should be able to express themselves and their feelings on controversial topics in our society. I also feel that there is a certain extent to which artists can go to not offend people but you can not always satisfy everyone. I am also in agreement that taking away the funding for these artists goes against their First Amendment rights which is not fair to these artists. censorship was also a main topic in our lecture this week and I agree with Abby that censorship shelters people from the truth. Censorship does not give everyone the diversity they should be exposed to in the world.

Blog #9

This week’s lecture focused on The Culture Wars, sponsorship and censorship in the United States. The Culture Wars deal with various pieces of artwork and artists. Many artists do not make enough money to cover their expenses and therefore are funded by wealthy individuals. Also many of the artists that we have focused on in women’s studies 250 receive funding. Art and politics are closely relates. They are connected through the flows of money. Art portrays topics that are political in society and conflicts arise over the funding of these types of artwork.

The “Culture Wars” are a series of debates about the politics of art. Many believe that there should be no funding of art that is offensive, pornographic, or against their religion. Artists retaliate by saying that taking away this money can be considered censorship. One specific instance in the culture wars that caught my attention was the NEA Four. John Frohnmayer, chair of he National Endowment for the arts, vetoed the grants to four artists Holly Hughes, Karen Finley, Tim Miller, and Jon Fleck. These artists are criticized for expressing themes of sexuality, promoting gay pride, and challenging social taboos. Art is a form of expression and while I feel that sometimes it needs to be regulated the funding for these artists to express their emotions and opinions should not be taken away because of censorship. In my opinion, censorship does not always allow us to have a diverse perspective if we are not exposed to other cultures and political topics through art and various other learning devices. I also really enjoy that our women’s studies class in particular embraces diversity and includes artists who are under the radar and not in the category of “great” and well-known artists. As a student, I feel this exposes me to more that there is in the world and allows me to grow and expand on that knowledge. A second part of the lecture I found very interesting was the article about Texas A&M students being able to opt out of funding the university’s Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgendered resource center if it conflicts with their religious beliefs. I do not agree with this law and I feel that all students no matter their sexuality deserve a place to get help and feel comfortable and that is what this resource center is for.

Also for this week we read an article written by Neil C. Patten. The first line caught my attention, “Political and artistic expressions are both ancient and symbolic endeavors.” Patten compares and contrast art and politics. The differences between the two are not very clear. Art is a form of expressing political actions and ideas. Another part that stuck out to me was, “It is said  [*562] that everything is political;  ⁿ¹¹ some critics, moreover, hold that anything is art.  ⁿ¹² If there is a difference then, this is it: all art is political, but not all political expression is artistic. Art and politics are very closely related. Patten also discusses our first amendment rights and that we should have the rights to express ourselves in any way and the government should not be able to take away those artistic rights through censorship. 

Response to Jaimee Schuster blog # 8

I agree with Jaimee that the painting "Portrait of a Young Boy" follows the theme that men are strong and violent. The young boy holding a rifle reiterates to young boys that they need to be strong. I also agree with Jaimee that Anna Ancher's painting "The Maid in The Kitchen" was different from most of ther other paintings. I also got the same message out of the painting that the women in the painting did not have time for herself but had time to take care of someone else's family. A last point I agree with Jaimee on is that the A World Apart exhibit was very easy to navigate through and each painting told a different story. This museum really helped to show the talents of women's artists and gave me a better interpretation of women's art rather than seeing it on the computer or in a brochure.

Blog 8

Our assignment for the class this week was to take a trip to the Women’s National Museum of Art in Washington, DC. This was a very intriguing experience for me and I enjoyed seeing many different pieces of artwork made my various artists come together to create an entire exhibit. This was not my first time going to this museum but each time I went I felt that I learned something knew and saw each piece of art in a different way.

            There were various pieces of art that stuck out to me while looking at the permanent exhibit but one in particular really caught my eye. This painting was A stroll on the beach by Michael Ancher in 1896. This painting seemed very simple to me as it used light pastel colors and the artist used shadows in the sand. It was not until I read the wall plaque that I discovered that this painting was made to perpetuate the new view of Skagen life by showing middle-class women enjoying the bucolic scenery.

            The current exhibit on display at the museum is A World Apard: Anna Ancher and the Skagen Art Colony, which is on display from February 15- May 12, 2013. While reading the brochure I learned that this exhibit was influences by the European art movements of Impressionism, Realism, Naturalism, and symbolism. They portrayed the lives of the people around them. One painting that I particularly noticed was A Field Sermon, 1903 by Anna Ancher. This picture in particular seemed to have darker colors than most painting which caught my attention. I originally thought that this painting depicted a religious ceremony and the facial expressions on the people seemed sad. My first interpretation was off and I learned that this painting was a depiction of a meeting of the Home Mission, a Lutheran evangelical movement that had many followers in Skagen, including the artist’s mother and sisters. Also while reading the wall plaque I learned that this was her largest painting and was awarded a silver medal from the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts in 1904. I also found it interesting that previously Ancher was not allowed to attend the Academy as a student because she was a woman.

            A third piece I found interesting was A-E-I-O-U and Sometimes Y by Mickalene Thomas. This piece was different than the ones featured in the exhibit because it was not done on an oil canvas. The artist of this painting used rhinestones in order to create an image to portray female beauty. The rhinestones help to draw attention to the features of the woman being portrayed. The pink background of the painting also reiterates the femininity of the piece. The artist of the piece liked to portray the identity of African American Women. Andy Warhol’s photo booth portraits also inspired this piece.

            Overall I had a very positive experience at the museum and I truly enjoyed interpreting and discovering the stories behind each piece of art work.