The initial idea for my final project was a criticism of
female-centric television shows, in particular the recent hit Scandal – starring Kerry Washington –
and Political Animals, as well as the
show about America’s first female president, Commander In Chief. Although I had not seen Scandal, my qualm with
the show lay on its success as a drama focusing on a woman (of color, to be
noted) in political relations, with a considerable amount of power. However,
the spin and sell, it seemed to me, was her inevitable sexualization: she’s a
hot woman in charge sleeping with the President. I was to compare Scandal with shows that did not do as
well, but were also centered on woman in power; both of these, Sigourney Weaver
in Political Animals and Geena Davis
in Commander in Chief, also along the
same vein of political influence.
However, as a filmmaker and screenwriter, I found it
difficult to be sated by another criticism and another observation of the
reality of women in mainstream entertainment. I have chosen to make my own
media and create a short film or series piece centered on powerful women – like
all three shows previously mentioned – but with a bit more social consciousness
intertwined. Commander in Chief
presented us with a leadership role model through Geena Davis’s character (without
taking her clothes off), but it also touched on the stigma of having a woman in
charge.
I don’t intend on the piece being overly instructive and
presenting the ideas we’ve discussed in class in an obvious and pretentious
way. But rather a light-hearted (satirical?) narrative of a young feminist,
with pieces of drama mixed in; think along the lines of The Misadventures of Awkward Black Girl. I’m
not entirely sure of the exact storyline and details, so I’m open to
suggestions. My goal is to bring projects/shows like these into public
awareness and not make women leadership such a stigma – so shows like Commander In Chief can stay on the air
and not be scrapped after the first season because a woman as president, we
just can’t have that, no.
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Hi Eissell, this sounds like a very promising project proposal and very suitable for this class. One of the questions that was not fullyvanswered in your proposal and left me a little confused was if your project is going to focus on African American women specifically? Or on women in powerful roles in general? It seems that you have more examples of African American women (Scandal/The Misadventures of Awkward Black Girl) so perhaps you can focus in a little more on making your project a criticism on how African American women are portrayed in our media. Good Luck!
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