Film
Feminism and the Rise of the Modern German Woman in "The Blue Angel", 2019
Presenter(s): Tatum Lenberg
Advisor(s): Jenna Weinman
By examining, The Blue Angel (d. Josef von Sternberg, 1930), through the lens of feminist theory, we can see that Marlene Dietrich’s character, Lola Lola, utilizes her sexuality to seduce and exploit the male gaze in order to gain independence and financial freedom. This is important because it offers viewers a look at the changing role of the modern woman during the Weimar Republic in Germany. Following World War I, German women were briefly given the right to vote, hold office, work, and pursue higher education. While they fought to pursue these new opportunities, women’s equality was challenged by the increasing economic restrictions and gender biases they faced during the rise of the Third Reich (Silva, 2018). In the film, Lola Lola’s counterpart, Professor Rath, represents an old-fashioned way of life and a society with strict moral codes. This is shown through his outdated costumes typical of the middle class during the Weimar Republic. By capitalizing on her femininity, Lola Lola subverts these social limitations and uses them to shift the power in their relationship to her favor. This is a metaphor for the Weimar women’s rise in power during the time period. Von Sternberg shoots the diegetic audience from Lola Lola’s point of view to hijack the male gaze and usurp its power by adding humor and parody to her performance. Lola Lola’s cabaret act involves alternately revealing and masking her body, which is representative of the cultural tensions and contradictions of German society. My research seeks to examine the character, Lola Lola’s, role in evolving German society under the Weimar Republic, and the ways Marlene Dietrich and Josef von Sternberg played with male gaze and point-of-view to achieve this parallel.
Silk Screen, 2020
Presenter(s): Michael Nicholas, Paolo Wolfsdorf, Jamie Weiss
Advisor(s): Christine Fugate, Michael Wood
Within recent years, Asian-Americans have only occupied 1% of leading roles in Hollywood and many acting programs have failed to graduate even one Asian Male. Student films operate in a pre-cursory area to the film industry and allow for ideas and chances to be taken without the overbearing concerns of a studio. The financial success that tends to drive studio’s casting decisions towards only “familiar options” is not present in the student space. These “familiar options,” and hesitancy to step out of the perceived comfort zone has hindered the growth of diversity in Hollywood. As a Film Production Directing student, I saw my thesis film as an opportunity to place an under-utilized and under-represented minority in multiple leading roles. My film, titled Silk Screen, centers on a father and son’s screen-printing business and the troubles they get into when the son’s mysterious photography leads to months of late rent and an angered landlord. The story takes place among the block of Korean Wholesale Marts in downtown Los Angeles. Hiring a casting director based out of Los Angeles gave me the ability to find Korean actors interested in taking on a project of this level. As demonstrated in my film, I was able to showcase the talent and importance of pulling from the under-represented Asian-American minority with Korean actors at the forefront.