er so

[jmtorres]

I'm making this vid, right? And I noticed my canonical source gives me a foothold to mount any goddamn meta message I want.

So um.

Would anyone care to suggest favorite moments in visual media (film, tv, music video) that address:
--claiming of identity (pref female, and/or possibly queer--still arguing with self about intersectionality of this vid--protagonist)
or
--objectification of women (ie they--they!--are clearly identified as Other than the protagonist)(or um, if that's too commonplace--then say, a female protagonist experiences and hopefully rejects objectification? That would be SUPER AWESOME actually)

I'm contemplating using a segment of Bad Romance; that only leaves like twelve other slots. *ponder* I'm not a huge Buffy fan, but was there a pivotal moment where she laid claim to her Slayerness? Which would be, gosh, an identity and an Otherness all wrapped up in one.

Wow, I really wish I had some footage on the Young Wizards books. HOW DO I KEEP WANTING TO VID BOOKS.

/me contemplates DVD shelf. Hmm: Serenity, Mirromask, Witchblade, Tin Man, Alice....

And. hmm. Places where identity is also tied to technology would be useful to me. Off the top of my head, things I haven't seen that you folks might have a bead on good scenes from: Sarah Connor Chronicles, Battlestar Galactica. Others?

Okay, I also really want iconic imagery that would be recognizable to people outside of fannish circles.

And um. It would actually be SUPER hilarious to hit the 80s hard, as a completely different thematic element than I've examined so far... Ooooh. Labyrinth.

The floor is open. Suggestions?

Comments

[jackandahat]

The almost-last scene of Repo! A Genetic Opera has the female protagonist rejecting the identity her father had forced on her - in a way she's claming being a grown woman rather than Daddy's little girl (She's 17, and she's been infantalised a lot by him).

Warning for blood everywhere

[grey_bard]

Re: Buffy, there are several sequences that might work for you. One, the first time she dies, when she literally gets killed and tossed aside by the villain, is revived, then comes back and killinates him. Then, in the series finale, when the spell is done and all the Slayers activate.

And then, on a totally different level, this scene at the very end of Season 6 http://vrya.net/bdb/clip.php?clip=3746 . As I recall, Buffy admits to Dawn that she has something to live for and one of those things is her sister, then they climb out of a grave together and look off into the sunset, sunrise? Um, something.

[grey_bard]

OH! There's this great scene in Batmanm yeah, the 1960's one, in the episode that introduces Batgirl that... Okay, you just need to see it for the othering. The othering is at the beginning http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tlxWfYnW1DE Video quality here is crap, but you can probably find the actual episode somewhere.

And then, the other thing you're looking for is in this clip too, Batgirl's transformation and first fight are awesome. The voiceover that's all "He's her idol" is stupid, but, okay, by the standards of the 60's show where all the characters are slower and dumber than real people, she's AMAZING. If you can't get ahold of it online, I have it on a homeburned dvd from a friend with TIVO

[grey_bard]

And actually, it works pretty well for your longer thing too, because it starts with Bruce Wayne meeting Barbara Gordon as a library patron and not really noticing the reference librarian at all, and the villains blowing her off and tossing her into her office, they close the door, and as soon as they're gone, she's happy as a clam because her Batgirl costume is in her office and she has an excuse why "Barbara" isn't there. And then she goes forth and kicks them in the head while Batman and Robin are still tied up.

[jmtorres]

Crap quality is really not a problem; most of what I use I'll have to make look old TV crappy anyway!

[ladyvyola]

Buffy also has crowning moments of selfhood/Slayerhood in Becoming, Part 2 as she's fighting Angelus.

Angelus: Now that's everything, huh? No weapons.... No friends.... No hope. Take all that away... and what's left?

Buffy: (catching sword blade between her hands) Me.

And then there's the bit a little later when Angel's soul has been restored but the end of the world is still going to happen. He's confused (doesn't realize that he'd been fighting Buffy) and reaches out for her. She soothes him and, knowing that it's the only way to save the world, runs him through with the sword and sends him to hell.

[grey_bard]

The two original Terminator movies (other Terminator movies? I know not of what you speak!) are good sources. Also, aside from the obvious Sarah and Cameron, "Catherine Weaver" the non-Skynet liquid Terminator working for her own ends - it is implied to save the Terminators from Skynet and free them - has some great human/robot identity visual moments. (She breaks cover to turn herself into a shield - a LITERAL shield shaped shield - in a surprisingly tough fight scene for what sounds defensive and, er, other stuff)

Oh! Sarah Connor Chronicles also has a series of great women-othering shots (well, it's not meant to other the audience from her, but to show that the being whose point of view the footage is from is othering her) as we see a deep cover Terminator's unknowing human wife reacting to him in a normal everyday way through cold green nightvision targeting (and also, him being activated and suddenly acting different and her realizing The Awful Truth in the same style).

[grey_bard]

OH OH BABYLON 5. IF YOU VALUE YOUR LIVES, BE SOMEWHERE ELSE!

[synecdochic]

Criminal Minds does a lot with the empowerment of women -- in CM, the victims who grab their own agency and fight back are the victims who win. I can't think of any particular examples, but the series is chock full of 'em.

[azurelunatic]

I don't know why, but that moment in the 3rd Matrix movie where various people are dying --- that somehow makes me twitch in a weird way I can't quite put my finger on.

[jmtorres]

You know I've never seen the third Matrix movie?

[azurelunatic]

It's best watched with popcorn, friends, and jeering. It's one of those "I see what you tried to do there, and, er... Er. Points for style and effort!" things.

[azurelunatic]

Also, Metropolis is kind of iconic.

[grey_bard]

YES, and in the shiny new cut with 20 more minutes, Maria gets a great scene where she's desperately working a giant lever to sound the alarm gong to warn the children of the onrushing flood as the waters woosh and rise and the kids come rushing out and it's all very dramatic, and, come to think of it, she got a bunch more good, fairly empowering scenes which apparently the American distributors thought the English speaking audience didn't need to see, back when it first came out. ARGH. Also, it makes more sense this way!

[azurelunatic]

There was a news story some months back about finding more of it, and I am not ashamed to admit that I cried.

[lferion]

The thing that comes to mind for me (for some reason) is the original Day the Earth Stood Still. Patricia Neal has some lovely moments as I recall. (It has been a while since I watched it, I could be remembering what I want, rather than what is there.)

Uhura in most of the Star Trek movies, but one of my favorite moments is her dealing with the guy who assumes she is feek and weeble, in Search for Spock? I've forgotten which movie it is in.

Rebecca and Amanda in Highlander.

[ide_cyan]

Planet Terror, with the leg thing.

Hard Revenge Milly, with a lot of body mods.

Silent Hill?

Nightmare on Elm Street 3, 4, etc. (Alice getting ready for battle)

Ripley in the power loader